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BR 142 .T46 1896 v. 4
Wells, Charles L. 1858-1938
The age of Charlemagne

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THE
AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE

(CHARLES THE GREAT)

BY

CHARLES L. WELLS, PH.D

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

«

%%t C^ttetidn feif crdf ure Co.

MDCCCXCVIII

Copyright, 1898, by
The Christian Literature Co,

TO MY FATHER AND MOTHER

AND TO MY TEACHER IN CHURCH HISTORY

A. V. G. ALLEN

AS A TRIBUTE OF GRATITUDE

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Preface xi

Bibliography, xv

CHAP. I. -The Age of Charles the Great-The Church-The

State— Christianity and Learning i

CHAP. II.— Rome and her Legacy to the New Peoples of the

West 8

CHAP. III.— The Organization of Christianity and the Origin

of the Papacy— The Inheritance of the Church 14

CHAP. IV.— The Conquest of the Empire by the German
Tribes— The Foundation of the Prankish Monarchy— The
Inheritance of the German People 25

CHAP, v.— The Merovingian Monarchy— Elements of Feudal-
ism—Mayors of the Palace 34

CHAP. VI.— Christianity and the Church among the Early

Franks— Conversion of Clovis— The Bishops 43

CHAP. VII.— The Spread of Christianity— Monasticism— Mis-
sionaries, Irish, Scotch, and English 51-,

CHAP. VIII.— The New Powers and Great Purposes of the
Mayors of the Palace— Charles Martel and the Church-
Foundation of Feudalism 58

CHAP. IX.— Boniface, the " Apostle of Germany "—The Con-
version of the Eastern Germans— Organization of the

Prankish Church— Union with Rome 68

CHAP. X. — Iconoclasm and the Papacy— The Development of
the Veneration of Saints, Relics, and Images— The Emperor
Leo III. and the Iconoclastic Edicts— Pope Gregory II.

and the Situation in Italy— The Eve of Revolt 80

CHAP. XL — Italy and the Papacy— The Ostrogothic Kingdom

—The Lombards— Liutprand and Gregory II 91

vn

viii Contents,

PAGE

CHAP. XII. -Gregory III. -The Lombards and the Franks-
Boniface and the Organization of the Prankish Church-
Early Synods — Relations with Rome loi

CHAP. XIII. — Karlmann and Pippin, the Sons of Charles
Martel— King Childeric III.— Retirement to a Monastery of
Karlmann, Childeric, and Rachis, King of the Lombards —
Coronation of Pippin as King of the Franks i lO

CHAP. XIV. — Relations of the Papacy with the Lombards and
with the Emperor, from the Time of Gregory II. to the
Death of Zacharias 123

CHAP. XV. — Relations of the Papacy with the Lombards and
with the Franks— Overthrow of the Exarchate by the Lom-
bards—The Pope Crosses the Alps — The Donation of
Pippin— The Papal Consecration of Pippin and his Sons as
Kings of the Franks and Patricians of the Romans 131

CHAP. XVI.— The Victory of Pippin over Aistulf— Lombard
Treachery— The Sack of Rome— The Papal Appeal— St.
Peter's Letter— Second Victory of the Franks — Pippin's
Donation— The Republic of Rome— The Temporal Power
of the Pope— Death of Aistulf— Accession of Desiderius—
Renewed Difficulties 140

CHAP. XVII. -The Final Struggle of the Lombards-The
Forged Donation of Constantine— The Frankish Conquest
of Aquitania— The Aquitanian Capitulary— Establishment of
the PVankish Church and the Diocesan and Metropolitan
System— Pippin's Relations with Constantinople and with
Bagdad 155

CHAP. XVIII. -The Work of Pippin-His Death- Division of
the Kingdom between Charles and Karlmann— Revolt of the
Aquitanians— Frankish Alliance with the Lombards— Death
of Karlmann— Charles Sole King— The Subjugation and
Conversion of Saxony— Early Saxon Missionaries 166

CHAP. XIX.— The Lombard Marriages — Repudiation of his
Lombard Wife by Charles — Pope Hadrian and the Lom-
bard War— Conquest of the Lombards— Charles Enters
Rome— King of the Lombards— The Second Donation to
the Pope— Additional Powers as Patrician— Pope Leo and
his Accusers— The Oath before Charles— Coronation of
Charles 190

CHAP. XX. — Frankish Accounts of the Coronation— The Act

Contents, ix

PAGE

of the Pope— Three Theories— The Attitude of Charles —
Relations with Constantinople— Renewal and Transfer—
Two Emperors and Two Empires — Idea of a World Empire
in Union with the Church 208

CHAP. XXL— Theories Underlying the Coronation— Closer
Relations with the Papacy— The Old Testament Ideal-
Augustine's City of God— The General Admonition— Secular
and Ecclesiastical Administration— The Spanish Campaign-
Downfall of the Duke of the Bavarians — Submission of the
Duke of Benevento— The Conquest of the Avars 221

CHAP. XXII.— Imperial Administration— Central and Local
Government— The Missi— The Assemblies— The Capitu-
laries 240

CHAP. XXIII. — Theological Controversies — Image Worship —
Adoptianism— The Filioque Clause—" Veni Creator
Spiritus " 259

CHAP. XXIV. — Political Importance of Ecclesiastical Ofificers
— The Metropolitanate — Ecclesiastical Regulations and Re-
form—Chrodegang and the Canonical Life — Benedict of
Aniane and Monasticism — The Supremacy of the Roman
Church— The Model 273

CHAP. XXV.— Closing Years— Attempt at Consolidation-
Foreign Relations — Later Wars — Distribution of Kingdoms
— Death of the Older Sons, Pippin and Charles— Last Will
— Election and Coronation of Louis as Co-emperor — Death
of Charles the Great — Canonization — Special Collect for
his Day, January 28 — The Great Work which He Accom-
plished 288

CHAP. XXVI.— Intellectual Life and Development— The Dark
Ages — Influence of Monasticism — Learning in England-
Benedict Biscop — Archbishop Theodore— Hadrian— Bede —
Alcuin — The Library at York 303

CHAP. XXVIL — Meeting of Charles and Alcuin— The Palace
School— Alcuin's Methods of Instruction— Cathedral Schools
—Alcuin Abbot of Tours 322

CHAP. XXyilL— Irish Learning— St. Patrick— Columbanus
— Irish Missions and Monasteries on the Continent— Irish
Scholars at the Court of Charles — Opposition of Alcuin —
Death of Alcuin 343

CHAP. XXIX.— Larger Development under Louis the Pious —

Contents.

The Scholars of Fulda— Rabanus Maurus and Servatus
Lupus— The Great Reformers— Agobard of Lyons and
Claudius of Turin — Paschasius Radbertus and the Doctrine
of Transubstantiation— John Scotus Erigena — Gottschalk
and the Predestination Controversy 352

CHAP. XXX.— Accession of Louis the Pious — Weakness of the
Imperial Unity— Relations with the Papacy— Regulation of
the Empire— Introduction of Primogeniture— Humiliation
of Louis 374

CHAP. XXXI. — Birth of Charles the Bald— Disorder in Italy—
The Roman Constitution — The Two Parties — Rebellion of
Lothair— The Field of Lies — Deposition of Louis — Restora-
tion—Reconciliation of Lothair— Death of Louis— Battle of
Fontenay— The Strassburg Oaths — Treaty of Verdun-
Fall of the Empire 391

CHAP. XXXIL— Christian Missions and Missionaries— Ebbo
and the Danes — Ansgar and the Swedes— Olaf and the
Norwegians — Methodius and the INIoravians- Secularization
of the Bishops— Political Influence and Dependence —
Feudal Relations — Reform Movements 41 5

CHAP. XXXIII.— Ecclesiastical Legislation and the Constitu-
tion of the Church in the Ninth Century— The Forged
Decretals —Origin— Date— Place— Object— Contents— Use
— Later History 423

CHAP. XXXIV. -The Height of the Papacy- Nicholas I.-
Hadrian II.— John VIII. — End of the Carolingian Line in
Italy— In Germany— In France— Degradation of the Papacy 452

PREFACE.

HE previous volumes in this series have
found their scene of action in the East.
It is never to be forgotten that Christian-
ity had its origin in the East, among an
Eastern and Semitic people, and that the
language of its early teachers and documents, and,
with two or three exceptions, of its literature, for
three or four centuries, the formulas of its faith, its
theological discussions and the decisions of its coun-
cils, were all in Greek. Even the Church of Rome
and most of the churches of the West were, at the
first, as Milman strikingly says, " Greek religious
colonies." With a consideration of the age of Charles
the Great the scene changes to the West, and we are
called upon to witness the handing over of the trea-
sured possessions of the Roman empire, law, language,
civilization, and ideals, to new peoples, the German
tribes under the leadership of the Franks ; the devel-
opment of a Latin Christianity ; the building up of
the great Latin Church ; and the lajang of the foun-
dations of the middle ages and of modern times.

It would be impossible to treat adequately of these
extensive subjects in so brief a compass as that
afforded by the pages of this volume. Many of the

xii Preface.

topics I have not attempted to touch. I have tried
to bring into clearer light some of the more obscure
though most important features of the period, and to
show the deeper relations which underlie the chief
events of the history of the church and of its connec-
tions with the political history.

In the introduction to his *' Life of Alcuin " Lor-
enz has said very justly: "The age of Charles the
Great is more celebrated than known, and the founder
of the new Romano-Germanic Empire has found more
panegyrists than historians." In the following pages
I have tried to be the historian rather than the pane-
gyrist, and to present facts rather than to indulge in
rhetoric.

While conscious, all the time, of writing for many
who will have no time to pursue the history further,
I have endeavored, by going deeply enough into the
subjects I have considered, to make the book of value
to those who desire already, or to those in whom, I
hope, it may inspire a desire, to continue the study
and to make investigations for themselves.

I have let the sources speak for themselves as far
as possible, not only in order to be more accurate,
but also because thereby a greater vividness and
reality could be assured.

I have dealt largely with the political side of the
subject, as the title requires and as the nature of the
history demands.

The growth of the Papacy, especially of its tem-
poral power and possessions, forms one of the most
important topics of the period. In this connection
the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals have been treated at

Preface. xiii

great length, on account of the interest and impor-
tance attaching to the subject, and because a good
deal of confusion still exists as to their history and
contents. They form an admirable commentary on
the church history of the ninth century.

I desire to acknowledge my special indebtedness
to the work of Waitz on the whole subject ; to that
of Hinschius on the Forged Decretals ; and particu-
larly to that of Mullinger on the intellectual life of
the period. As the latter book is out of print and
the others are in foreign languages, the large use
made of them is perhaps more excusable. Dr. Mom-
bert, by a personal letter and by his most compre-
hensive work on Charles the Great, has rendered
much assistance.

I am allowed to quote, in closing, the words of
Dr. Noah K. Davis of the University of Virginia in
the preface to his book, '* The Theory of Thought " :
" If on the whole it is a good book, it will live and be
useful; if not it will die, the sooner the better."

Charles L. Wells.

Minneapolis, December 4, 1897.

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CHAPTER 1.

THE AGE OF CHARLES THE GREAT — THE CHURCH
— THE STATE — CHRISTIANITY AND LEARNING.

HE division of history into epochs and
periods, while presenting many advan-
tages for the purpose of detailed study
and of careful comparison, is, at the same
time, attended with disadvantages and
dangers, so that it needs some explanation, if not
defence, at the outset. The stream of time, whose
events, together with their record, constitute what
we call history, is one and continuous. Yet divi-
sions may be made and differences noted, if they
are not made too hard and fast, too definite and me-
chanical.

Two cautions must be borne in mind. First, that
not all the movements of a period end in that period ;
some must have begun, and all must have their
ground or motive, in a preceding one, and some will
reach the crisis of their development only in a later
period. Secondly, a period is not of the same con-
tinuous character throughout ; it is full of movement,
an ebb and flow like the tide, a rise and fall like the
barometer, a waxing and waning like the moon.

A I

The Age of Charlemagne,

Yet without doubt each period has its one great
movement, with a beginning, a progress, a crisis, and
a fall or change into some other; and, taking up a
single movement, one may mark, more or less defi-
nitely, its limits in time.

In the same way some one great personality dom-
inates or at least guides and moulds the develop-
ment of a long period in history ; preceding years or
centuries seem to have prepared for his coming, and
succeeding ones are filled with his spirit and with the
influence of the forces which he has set in motion.
In a supreme degree this is true of Jesus Christ, and
the modern world has recognized it by dividing his-
tory into two great periods, one before, one after, his
birth, and still proclaims that we live anno Domini.
In a less degree we may speak of the age of some
great man, meaning the period of his influence, or of
the movements of events with which his name is
identified, though it begins before his birth and does
not end until after his death.

All this is particularly true of Charles, King of the
Franks, and later Emperor of the West, of whom
Joseph de Maistre has so well said, '' This man is so
truly great that greatness has been incorporated in
his very name " — Charles the Great, or, as the French
like to call him, Charlemagne.^ It may be under-
stood, therefore, in what sense we speak of the age
of Charles the Great, though the empire in which

1 The surname " Great " was his from the middle of the ninth cen-
tury. The name " Charlemagne " is a later and misleading French cor-
ruption of " Carolus Magnus." See Mombcrt, pp. iii., 502; Waitz,
vol. iii., p. loi, note i, p. 648.

The Carolmgian Line, 3

that greatness centred broke up soon after his hold
upon it was relaxed. This is recognized also in what
is a most unusual procedure, the calling his line of
ancestors after his own name, as though they were
his children instead of his fathers. The line is known
to all history as the Carolingian,i though it came
into prominence in the seventh century in the per-
son of Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, whose son married
the daughter of Pippin of Landen, a mayor of the
palace, by whom he became the father of Pippin of
Heristal, the conqueror of Testry in 687 and father
of Charles Martel, who was born a year or two
afterwards and was the grandfather of Charles the
Great.

The age of Charles the Great lies between the two
dark centuries, the seventh and the tenth, the results
of the earlier and of the later barbarian invasions.
With the eleventh century a new life begins, and the
period ecclesiastically is rightly named the Hilde-
brandine era.

These dates mark not only ecclesiastical, but po-
litical and intellectual divisions. The period began
with the first appearance in action of those ideas and
principles which reached a crisis in the life and work
of Charles himself, and ended when that movement
waned and ceased, or passed into other hands and
under other forms and influences. It is because these
ideas and principles are so varied and so fundamental,
and their influences so far-reaching, that the age of

1 " Carlovingian " is a corrupt form devised in the middle ages as
analogous to " Merovingian," from Merovius, the reputed founder of
the preceding dynasty. See Martin, vol. ii., p. 230, note i.

The Age of Charlemagne,

Charles the Great is so long and so important, so in-
teresting and so instructive.

The church, already having put on monarchical
forms, moulded and influenced by the close connec-
tion with the civil power brought about when Con-
stantine declared Christianity the established religion
of the empire, had rapidly increased in power and
extent. This power in growing had become central-
ized, first in four or five patriarchates, then in two,
Rome and Constantinople. The struggle between
these two was already on when Mahometanism arose
and appeared to suspend it, but it was Mahometanism
that decided it.-^

One by one the churches of the East were lost, and
in no new direction could the Patriarch of Constan-
tinople reach out after more. The growth and vic-
tories of the future were with the Pope of Rome.
New peoples were converted and owned his sway, his
spiritual influence reached wherever Christianity was
known, and a temporal sovereignty began in and
about the city which he had many times defended
by the inspiration of religious awe and by shrewd
diplomacy, and had so stamped with his spirit as to
make it his own. He took the foremost of these new
peoples, converted them to Christianity, changed the
Hne of their kings, and made them the instruments of
the spirit of a new hierarchical organization far beyond
the fondest fancy of the East, the very home of ab-
solutism and of priestcraft.

Slowly he gained his independence of the Roman
emperor, brought about the separation of nearly all

1 Matter, vol. ii., p. 69.

The Frankish E nip we.

of what remained of the Imperial possessions in the
West, created a new empire, and crowned its em-
perors. On the basis of his own enlarged possessions
he established the States of the Church and the begin-
ning of the temporal power of the Papacy, at once
the fulcrum of its mighty influence and the stum-
bling-block of its spiritual greatness, the last of its
powers to be fully attained and the first to be com-
pletely lost.

The various tribes and kingdoms were brought
under the rule of one controlling people, the Franks ;
a new and stronger race of kings arose from ancestors
who had fought for unity and won it, who had driven
back the threatening wave of Mahometan invasion
from the South and thus saved Europe to Christianity
and to Aryan civilization, who had subdued the savage
barbarism of the North and thus made possible the
spread of Christianity to the boundaries of the north-
ern sea. As trustees for the modern world, they had
received the treasures of Roman civilization from the
trembhng hands of the aged and decrepit empire,
worn out by its labors and excesses, and now too
impotent to use or even to hold them any longer. A
new empire was founded, in which the peoples of the
West might realize their common origin and relation-
ship and the great responsibilities and hopes awaiting
them in the future.

The vision was realized for less than half a century ;
the central power was one in name rather than in
fact ; and it was left for feudalism to preserve all that
was strong and lasting and true, to protect it from the
disintegrating forces of barbarian invasion and the

The Age of Charlemagne.

consequent weakness and confusion, and finally to
hand it over to the monarchies of the later middle
ages and the newly forming nationalities of the mod-
ern world.

The great missionary enterprises were begun, al-
though their greatest and most lasting victories were
not won until a later period. Monasteries were
founded, not as places of refuge for idle contempla-
tion and selfish asceticism, but as centres of living,
active force, true oases in the deserts of the barbarism
of western and of northern Europe, lights shining in
a dark place, leaven hid in the meal, spreading their
influences far and wide, teaching, by practical ex-
ample, a higher life, nobler purposes, and loftier
ideals, and directly helping others to their attain-
ment.

Seeds of learning, saved from the schools of Greece
and Rome by Irish and English scholars, were sown
in the newly founded royal and ecclesiastical schools ;
intellectual life and learning were fostered and en-
couraged.

Through and above it all, a great, far-seeing mind,
a brave and wise spirit, a noble and illustrious con-
queror, the mighty emperor Charles the Great, who
knew and builded much, and yet builded wiser than
he knew; whose work seemed to be lost in the di-
vision of the inheritance and the weakness of the
inheritors, but, though his empire was divided, his
schools closed, his monasteries devastated, and the
Papacy, which he did so much to strengthen and to
build up, plunged into the lowest depths of corrup-
tion, yet the treasure was not diminished, though di-

Permanent Influence^

vided and given into other hands; was not ruined,
though marred and mutilated ; was not lost, though
for a time covered and concealed. The work which
he did, and which his principles wrought out in his
age, made possible the Renaissance, the Reformation,
and the nations of modern Europe.

CHAPTER II.

ROME AND HER LEGACY TO THE NEW PEOPLES
OF THE WEST.

HEN Charles, afterwards called the Great,
succeeded his father Pippin in the leader-
ship of the German peoples with the title
of King of the Franks, nearly three cen-
turies had elapsed since the last Roman
emperor had ruled in Ital}^, and about the same time
since the Franks had come into prominence and no-
tice under their leader Clovis. During these three
centuries events of momentous significance had oc-
curred.

Rome had been doing for the West, in her own
way and to the best of her ability, that which Greece
had originated and carried on with such genius and
glor)^ The elements of learning and of civilization,
already existing in the East, Greece had taken up,
stamped with her own genius and grace, developed
to high conditions of beauty and excellence, and
moulded into forms of surpassing purity and power.
Rome had received this art and learning, this won-
derful civilization, and although in her hands it lost
some of its grace and beauty, she gave it greater

8

The Provincial Government of Rome. 9

strength and force by her order, discipline, organiza-
tion, government, and laws.

Greece colonized, but Rome conquered and gov-
erned; Greece civilized, but Rome organized and
incorporated. The influence of Greece was mediate,
individual, unseen; that of Rome, direct, general,
evident, and effective.

It was through and by means of Rome's great
practical genius for law and government that her in-
fluence worked, and it showed itself particularly in
her provincial government. By the incorporation of
conquered peoples into her own national life she made
them partakers by necessity of her language and her
laws, and by imitation of her customs and her civili-
zation. Although her administration became corrupt
and oppressive during the later years of the republic,
it was very efficient under the empire, when many
of the provinces came under the direct supervision of
the emperor, and municipal institutions with a system
of representation connected with the festivals of em-
peror-worship were developed and extended.! If
Rome was despotic, she was protective ; if the prov-
inces paid high tribute in taxes and men, they gained
peace and security, better government and laws, and
a higher civilization. 2

But Rome's power was failing. Her conquests
had extended until she ruled the world, and the world
was growing too large for one city to rule. Gradually,
in the earlier times, she had received into her citizen-

1 Fustel de Coulanges, vol. i., pp. 210-224.

2 W. T. Arnold, "The Roman System of Provincial Administra-
tion " (London, 1879).

lo The Age of Charlemagne.

ship those whom she had first conquered, then civi-
lized, then Romanized. Later, however, distant prov-
inces were annexed and large numbers admitted to
citizenship without going through this gradual initia-
tion. The inhabitants of these distant provinces in the
North and West, the barbarians, as they were called,
were fast becoming a part of the organism itself —
introduced first as slaves and captives of war, then
in bands of large numbers as coloni on the estates of
wealthy and influential Romans. Whole tribes had
been received as subjects, and from the time of Caesar
and the first emperors, bands and troops had been
used in the armies along with the legions. i

Unfortunately, however, as this material for, and
consequently the need of, assimilation increased,
Rome's power to perform such functions diminished
with startling rapidity.

A great deal has been written about the moral
corruption of later Roman hfe, and it might seem
difficult to exaggerate the evil ; but its importance as
the cause of the fall of Rome undoubtedly has been
overestimated, as Dr. Adams has so clearly pointed
out,^ by turning the attention away from other more
direct and more immediately effective causes, and by
concealing the real issue. The secret of Rome's fall was
in her failure to assimilate her continued conquests,
due to one thing — exhaustion. This exhaustion was
moral, but that was not all; it was social, political,
and economical. The social and economic effects of

1 Fustel de Coulanges, vol. ii., pp. 365-401.

2 Adams, pp. 76-88. One of the briefest yet most suggestive treat-
ments of this interesting subject.

Importance of Social Differences. 1 1

slavery were as disastrous as its moral effects. The
same is true also of the breaking up of family life, the
free games and free food, the luxury and artificial life
of the rich. Most serious of all, the result of all these
various causes, as well as of many others, was the
disappearance of the middle class. The union of the
patricians with the plebeians had led to the strength-
ening of the unity and power of Rome, immediately
followed by the spread of her conquests and influence.
It was the rapidly growing gulf between the wealthy
aristocracy and the dependent proletariat that weak-
ened her and prepared for her downfall.

If the dream of the communist were realized, and
the so-called middle class constituted the entire com-
munity, without the variation of richer and poorer,
educated and uneducated, employer and employed,
life would be a dead, monotonous level, humanity
would stagnate, arts and inventions would cease, and
very soon a retrogression would begin, which, slowly
at first, but surely and finally, would carry man back
to the earlier conditions of barbarism from which
civihzation started, and out of which, by slow and
painful steps and by great sacrifices of individuals and
of communities, it has attained its present height.
Unless the few who can are allowed to go ahead and
lift themselves above the surrounding level, even if
necessary on the backs and shoulders of their fellow-
men, there can be no hope of progress, no possibility
of advance for the mass of mankind ; and unless rich
rewards and great incentives are held out for success,
few, too few, will attempt the difficult and oftentimes
dangerous enterprise.

1 2 The Age of Charlemagne,

On the other hand, some bond of connection, some
intimate union of sympathy and of mutual helpfuhiess,
must be kept up between the highest and the lowest,
the most and the least advantaged in society, or the
vital connection will be lost, the organism mutilated,
humanity will suffer, the social fabric, and, together
with it, the political constitution, will totter to the
fall. There will be, there must be, gradations, social,
economical, intellectual, and political, but they must
be so closely connected and interwoven that there
shall be no break between the lower and the next
higher. If, by any means, any considerable section
of these gradations is removed, ruin is inevitable.

This was just the evil in Rome's case, caused by
the disappearance of the middle class, eaten out by
slavery, luxury, pauperization, loss of independence,
and by the absorption of small proprietorships into
the vast estates of wealthy and powerful landowners.
Many of these evils had been felt already in the clos-
ing years of the republic, and had made not only
possible, but necessary, the revolution wrought by
Caesar and realized by Augustus in the establishment
of the empire. This movement, by concentrating the
power and energy still remaining in the state, and by
restoring, in a great measure, the direct responsibility
of the minor officers, postponed the evil day, though
it did not provide any radical remedy. Such evils
are more noticeable and more dangerous in a republic
than in a monarchy, but they are bound to be effec-
tive as long as they continue.

Another and still greater revolution, implying a
still deeper recognition of these evils and dangers,

The Revolution under Constantine, 13

took place under Diocletian and Constantine. This
was the division of the empire into East and West,
its reorganization into four prefectures, sixteen dio-
ceses, and one hundred and eighteen provinces, the
introduction of Oriental forms and customs, the es-
tablishment of a complete system of bureaucracy, the
removal of the capital to Constantinople, and the
adoption of Christianity as the established religion of
the empire.

All this, however, while recognizing the dangers,
failed to avert them ; and before the end of the fifth
century the Roman emperor no longer had any in-
dependent rule in the West. Rome had ceased long
before to be the seat of imperial power, for Diocle-
tian, in 284, had removed thence to Milan, and before
the middle of the fifth century the barbarians held
the larger part of the imperial territory in the West.

This has been called the fall of the Roman empire,
but the term is not a very appropriate one. In reality
it was the handing over to others the power her hands
were too weak to hold any longer, the seizure by
others of the treasures she could no longer defend
or use. These others were the Christian church and
the German people.

CHAPTER III.

THE ORGANIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY AND THE
ORIGIN OF THE PAPACY — THE INHERITANCE
OF THE CHURCH.

HE Christian church inherited the organi-
zation and the centralization of the im-
perial power of Rome. Centuries elapsed,
however, before it found its head and
centre in the imperial city and came into
full possession of the unity of organization and the
discipline of law which it received with the imperial
idea as its legacy.

The spiritual head and centre of the Christians was
Christ. He was at once the norm and revelation of
their faith, the source and standard of their life, the
object and inspiration of their worship.

The first three centuries of their existence were
passed largely in retirement, obscurity, and isolation.
Political life was absolutely denied them, as also was
social life outside of their own communities. They
were the object of suspicion, ridicule, slander, and
abuse, as well as of slights, annoyances, persecutions,
and punishments, by their Jewish and pagan neigh-
bors and by the local civil officials, from which the

14

Tendencies toivards Centralization, 15

imperial law afforded them no protection or redress.
Their close organization was therefore natural as the
outgrowth of a common- political instinct, especially
connected with their marvellous increase in numbers,
and as the formal realization of their ideal unity in
the one Lord, the one faith, and the one baptism. It
was also necessary in order to maintain this growth
and inward unity, as well as for outward defence
and regulation.

Their first and most natural local centre was Jeru-
salem; but the intolerance and bitter attacks of the
Jews, and the early destruction of the city by the
Romans, put an end to its effectiveness as a means
of centralization. Their earliest formal organization
consisted of single scattered communities, each gov-
erned by a gradation of officers at whose head was
the bishop, who represented the community and acted
in its name. Interchange of thought, of sympathy,
and of aid was maintained by letters, travellers, and
more formally appointed messengers. Owing to the
rise of novelties and variations of faith and of practice,
synods including several neighboring communities
began to be held, all tending to an increase of cen-
trahzation. The bishops of the churches in the chief
cities of the empire soon came to hold important and
influential positions, especially when they were men
of great personal energy and ability, or occupied
positions in churches of apostolic or of quite early
foundation. The decisions of synods and the declara-
tions of individual bishops and teachers had only a
moral sanction and authority, but even then showed
such growing effectiveness as to bring upon them the

1 6 The Age of Charlemagne,

suspicion and finally the active persecution of the
empire.

It was not on account of religious differences, for
Rome tolerated all religions; it was not on account
of their exclusiveness or proselytism, for the Jews
were exclusive and proselyting ; it was not on account
of disobedience to the laws nor on account of the
slanders concerning them that the empire in the third
century entered upon a determined course of anni-
hilation against them. Rather was it because of the
increased efficiency and unmistakable reality of their
organization, which threatened to form an imperiuin
in imperio, not only rivalling the empire and dividing
allegiance to the emperor, but tending to undermine
the state and to overthrow its ruler. But if Rome
was too exhausted to conquer her own corruption
and to assimilate her later conquests, she was far too
weak to cope successfully with the Christian church
in the freshness of its purity and vigor. Her attacks
aimed at its highest officials in the middle of the third
century, and her efforts to destroy not only its mem-
bers but its holy writings, the source of its life and
inspiration, at the beginning of the fourth century,
were powerless and ineffectual for harm. They came
too late. They might prune away some branches;
they could not injure the trunk, and only strength-
ened the roots of the mighty tree.

Just at this time the greatest change of all came
to the empire and to the church — the conversion of
the emperor and the proclamation of Christianity as
the established religion of the empire, and the church
as its official form and representative. It is very

Christianity as the Authorized Religion, 17

difficult to realize, much harder to describe, and im-
possible to overestimate all that this meant to the
church as well as to the empire. The organization
was drawn into a still closer resemblance to the im-
perial constitution, crystallized in that form, and sup-
ported by the law and authority of the imperial power.
Instead of being persecuted it was legalized ; instead
of being forced into obscurity it was made an arm of
the state ; instead of its officers being most exposed
to the attacks of a hostile power they became the
most exalted representatives of that power. Chris-
tianity was not only licensed, it became the sole
authorized religion. Its rules and regulations, its rites
and ceremonies, its creed and organization, became
matters of imperial significance.

Startling as this change was in itself, it was nothing
short of revolutionary in its effects. New standards
and ideas, new aims and objects, new purposes and
methods, new views and considerations, at once en-
tered into the mind and will of the church. Emphasis
was laid upon the exigencies of the economy of a
visible church which became the substitute for the
kingdom of God. There arose the necessity of an
external system capable of being externally admin-
istered. There followed from this standpoint the
localization of God and the necessity of substitutes
instead of witnesses for his presence. The church
itself came to be identified with the clergy, who ap-
peared as its officers rather than as its ministers. The
religious life was the ecclesiastical, later the monastic,
life. Salvation was something external instead of
internal, and an intrinsic value was accorded to works

B

1 8 The Age of Charlemagne.

which might be noted, estimated, and measured. It
would lead too far from the present purpose to carry
these considerations further, or to cite any of the
numerous illustrations in the theology, morals, life,
discipline, and worship forming from this period. The
whole process extends through the later history and
may be summed up as the substitution of the exter-
nal sign for the thing signified.^

This shows why the church in the middle ages
must be considered as an ecclesiastical institution
rather than as a religious organization. Its moral
influence gradually became subordinate to its ec-
clesiastical government. It was political rather than
religious ; it sought to save the world by ruling it, to
serve men by subduing them to itself, and to teach
them by exercising authority over them.

Centralization became more important than ever.
The great patriarchates were established as centres
of influence and control. They were Antioch, Alex-
andria, Rome, and, later, Constantinople and Jerusa-
lem. The importance of Rome was early recognized.
Even in the middle of the third century Cyprian had
shown the expediency of an appeal to Rome in mat-
ters of faith, though evidently without intending
thereby to ascribe to her any authority not possessed
by other churches equally ancient and apostolic.
There were many other circumstances which favored
the speedy rise of the Roman Church out of the
obscurity in which she remained during the first three

1 The further application of this principle may be read in " The Con-
tinuity of Christian Thought," hy A. V. G. Allen, D.D. See espe-
cially the second and fourth chapters.

The Advantages of Rome. 19

centuries, when the city, as the capital of the empire,
was the centre of pagan Hfe and worship. The Latin
theology and the ecclesiastical life of the West had
their rise and reached their height during the first
four centuries, not in Rome, but in North Africa, in
Tertulhan, Cyprian, and St. Augustine. When the im-
perial capital was removed to the East and the pagan
religion was proscribed, the great advantages of the
Church of Rome began to appear. Even her early
obscurity, joined with her distance from the disputes
of the East, had worked to her advantage and made
possible that silent, steady growth which enabled her,
a little later, to take a high position in the Christian
world.

The importance and dignity of the city, with all the
prestige that came to her as the centre and seat of the
empire and mistress of the world, were felt also by the
church which had been founded there in the earliest
apostolic times, and which claimed two of the chief-
est of the apostles as her founders and upbuilders.
Indeed, she was the only apostolic see in the West,
and when so much depended upon an apostolic foun-
dation and authority for proving genuineness of tra-
dition and integrity of faith, this was of the greatest
worth and importance. Rome kept the advantages
thus gained. The regular succession and the personal
prestige of her bishops, their general and, with one
or two exceptions, undisputed orthodoxy, especially
during the long struggle of the fourth century, when
for a time the empire and the church at large were
avowedly Arian, proved her ability to sustain her
responsible position. The Roman Church was also

20 The Age of Charlemagne,

wealthy and at the same time generous. Her mis-
sionary zeal carried her emissaries into various parts
of the West, and many churches were founded, sup-
ported, and protected by her, and they acknowledged
and repaid their obligation by service and devotion.
The conversion of the English, the attitude of Bede
towards Rome, and the later labors of Boniface and
other English missionaries in complete devotion to
the Roman see serve admirably as illustrations of the
feeling Rome evoked and the position of moral su-
premacy she came to hold among the churches of the
West.

Other influences also were at work. The need of
a centre of unity and defence made itself increasingly
felt as the church organization grew more definite
and Christianity spread into new and hitherto inac-
cessible regions, gaining a foothold among half-savage
princes and semibarbarous peoples, while anarchy and
confusion incident to the fall of Rome's political power
took possession of the Western world. In many
ways the Church of Rome met these needs and sat-
isfied them.

The position of the priesthood generally became
more and more subordinate to the higher ranks of
the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Chosen more frequently
from the serfs of the church, who alone had the
educational training fitting them for the position, or
from the freemen among the still uneducated peoples
where the church was spreading most rapidly, their
inferiority could not fail to be apparent. The time
of the great presbyters had passed away ; the bishops
alone were important. But the bishops, as such,

The Power of Rome. 21

found their power diminishing. The monasteries,
one after another, in various ways gained exemp-
tions and became independent of episcopal control.
The right of lay patronage and the system of pri-
vate chaplains took away from the bishops another
source of their power. The rural deaneries and
cathedral chapters still further weakened and divided
it. Even the metropolitanate, essentially a Roman
institution based upon the political importance of
certain chief cities in the empire, was gradually dying
out. Redivisions, consequent upon the settlements
of new peoples, the disappearance of old centres, and
the rising into importance of new ones, led to a com-
plete readjustment of old relations. New sees, by
reason of the greater wealth, renown, or sanctity
which they acquired and the larger powers which
they could exercise through the rapidly developing
feudal system, which comprehended the church as
well as the state, soon gained a credit and an influence
far greater than the old metropolitanate, which in
most cases was attached to some old, decaying, and
insignificant Roman town.

In all this change Rome steadily gained in power
and prestige. The springing up of new church cen-
tres taking the place of the old ones had the additional
effect of breaking up the old traditions of indepen-
dence and obliterated the recollections of ancient
equality. The days of the opposition of Irenaeus and
the bishops of southern Gaul, of Tertullian, Cyprian,
and the church of North Africa, of Ravenna, Aquileia,
and Milan, were passing away. The new churches
offered no resistance, indeed were eager in their

2 2 The Age of Charlemagne.

maintenance and defence of the increasing power and
influence of the Bishop of Rome.^

The bishops of Rome began, about the fifth or
sixth century, to exercise the right of conferring the
paUium, a hnen robe embroidered with purple, which
all bishops in the East received at their consecration.
By the Bishop of Rome, however, it was sent as a
special mark of honor and privilege only to the most
distinguished bishops of the West, symbolizing and
strengthening their connection with the Church of
Rome. The many appeals to Rome for the establish-
ment of the faith, for aid and counsel, for the settle-
ment of disputes, for the exercise of new powers, for
gaining rights, privileges, and exemptions, not only
recognized her authority, but increased it, and some-
times even created it.

Finally there w^as a whole series of imperial edicts
and acts of councils which were used, rightly or
wrongly, to give a legal foundation to Rome's grow-
ing claim to supremacy. Foremost of all, however,
was the declaration of Christ to St. Peter as recorded
in St. Matthew xvi. i8, first applied to the person of
St. Peter and then to his successors in Rome in the
fifth century.^

A canon of Sardica in 343 gave to Julius, Bishop
of Rome at that time, the right of receiving appeals
from bishops condemned for Arianism. Attempts

1 Chastel, vol. iii., pp. 163-178.

2 " First in the time of Coelestine an attempt was made to refer it to
the person of Peter. The legates of Calestine at the Council of
Ephesus in 431 had said: ' Who, until now and ever, both lives and
teaches in his successors.' Thus they claimed universal primacy as of
immediate divine authority. Leo I. adopted this view with all his
soul." (Kurtz, vol. i., p. 269.)

The Papacy, 23

were made to give to this canon a general instead of
a specific application, and to use it as a Nicene canon.
An edict of the Emperor Gratian in 378 conferred
upon Damasus the right of giving a final decision
against some schismatic clergy. An edict of Valen-
tinian in 445 declared the universal primacy of the
Roman see. The later forgeries, culminating in the
False Decretals of the ninth century, supplied all that
was lacking in the way of precedent and documentary

evidence.

But all these advantages, opportunities, precedents,
declarations, canons, and edicts would have accom-
pHshed httle of enduring worth had it not been for
the line of good and great men— great in intellect, in
ability, in tact, and in influence— who filled the chair
of the Bishop of Rome. Indeed, we may fairly say
that the Papacy,^ as the special position and influence

1 The Roman bishops were not distinguished at first by any exclu-
sive titles. The term " patriarch," while technically belongmg to hem
alone in the West, was quite commonly applied to all the Western bish-
ops. Even the names " apostolic Pope," '' Vicar of Christ chief
pontiff," and " apostolic see " were not confined to Rome and its bish-
ops, inasmuch as, originally, all bishops were regarded as vicars of
Christ and successors of the apostles, while no distinction had been
made as yet between St. Peter and the other ap°,f 1^^. The term
" Pope," from the Latin papa and Greek TraTTTraf ( a father ), was
applied at first to the higher clergy generally. Ennodius Bishop of
Pavia. used it with special emphasis for the Bishop of Rome at the be-
ginning of the sixth century, and from the next ^^^^^^^^y;^. ^e^^^^^^^^
fixed tftle. Gregory VII. in 1075 enforced it by law, and forbade its
application to any other bishop. Thus it is seen /hat the later tides
of the bishops of Rome were those in general use at first, but gradually

monopolized by them. . ^, j ,, j ^ a \.., Cn^acsTM

The phrase " servant of the servants of God," adopted by Gregory

the Great in his well-known opposition to the claim of tli^ Patmrdi

of Constantinople to the title " universal patriarch," remained almost

exclusively the prerogative of the Bishop of Rome.

After their triumph at the Sixth General Council the Roman bish-

24 The Age of Charlemagne.

of the Bishop of Rome is called, owes its real origin
to the three great popes of the fourth century — In-
nocent, Coelestine, and Leo — and to the greater one at
the close of the sixth century — Gregory the Great.

The Hfe of Gregory i shows how far the Church of
Rome had inherited the power and influence and real
position of the old Roman empire. The Latin lan-
guage had become the language of its Scriptures, its
liturgy, its theology, and its laws, while with the lan-
guage it had received much of the spirit and ideals
of Rome. Thus the empire of Rome had passed on
a part of its great heritage to the Church of Rome,
and thus the Church of Rome had become able to re-
ceive and to administer the inheritance.

ops began to take the title " universal bishop," which Gregory had
repudiated.

" Vicar of Peter " was frequently used, gradually growing in signifi-
cance with the exaltation of Peter to the position of Prince of the
Apostles, upon whom the church was founded and to whom had been
given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

1 The account given by Milman in his "Latin Christianity," bk.
iii., chap, viii., is one of the best brief biographies.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CONQUEST OF THE EMPIRE BY THE GERMAN
' TRIBES — THE FOUNDATION OF THE FRANKISH
MONARCHY — THE INHERITANCE OF THE GER-
MAN PEOPLE.

HE other inheritor of Rome's power and
civiHzation was the German people. Con-
stantinople in the East retained the im-
perial name as New Rome, but the Ger-
man tribes inherited the possessions in the
West, divided at first, then gradually united, until the
Lombards held the territory of the empire in Italy,
and the Franks the lands beyond the Alps. At last
Charles the Great, uniting both with new conquests
in the North and East, created the Carolingian em-
pire.

Of the various kingdoms, or, rather, tribal settle-
ments we might better call them, which were made
within the limits of the empire after the Volkerwan-
derung, few were lasting. The movement itself was
a slow one and had been going on since the first cen-
tury, when the tribes along the Baltic Sea and east of
the Rhine and Danube rivers, urged on by increasing
population and by the desire of the richer lands in the

25

26 The Age of Charle^nagne.

South, and driven by other tribes still farther east,
began to approach the boundaries of the empire.
Many of them in small bands had been admitted to
the empire as servants and laborers and as soldiers
in the imperial armies, so that Rome began to conquer
them by her civilization before they conquered her
by force of arms.

It was not, however, until the battle of Adrianople,
in 378, when the Visigoths, driven on by the Huns,
crossed the Danube and defeated the Emperor Valens
in one of the great decisive battles of the world, that
the entrance into the empire by force and in any large
numbers really began. Not long after the Vandals
crossed the Rhine, and the other tribes speedily fol-
lovx'ed. They were forced to go on. One tribe was
driven by another. Back of them were the Huns, a
fierce Turanian horde from central Asia. The Goths
invaded Italy and ravaged Gaul. Rome recalled her
legions at the beginning of the fifth century and left
the frontier undefended, and the first decade of that
century saw the real occupation of the empire by the
barbarian tribes.

The Vandals, passing through Gaul, founded a
kingdom in North Africa in 429, from which they
attacked and despoiled Rome in 455, one of four at-
tacks since the beginning of the century ; but they
were overthrown by Belisarius, Justinian's famous
general, in 534. Before the end of the seventh cen-
tury the whole country was overrun by the Saracens,
who in 711 entered Spain and subdued the kingdom
which had been established there by the Visigoths just
after their famous sack of Rome in 410 under Alaric.

Origin of the Franks. 27

The kingdom of Odoacer the HeruHan, who in 476
brought an end to the separate Hne of Roman em-
perors in Italy, was succeeded in 493 by the Ostro-
gothic kingdom of Theodoric, which was overthrown
in 553 by Narses, another famous general of Justin-
ian. The Lombards gained a foothold in Italy in 568,
after the death of Justinian and the recall of Narses,
and their kingdom lasted until overthrown by Charles
the Great in 774, and forms an important chapter in
this history.

The other kingdoms were conquered by the Franks,
and annexed to or absorbed into the Prankish king-
dom during the fifth and sixth centuries.

The Franks first appear in history as a powerful
confederation of several German tribes, who in the
time of Tacitus inhabited the Rhine districts. Unlike
the other great confederations of German tribes, they
did not leave their old lands while conquering new
ones. They formed, however, two distinct groups :
the SaHans, near the mouth of the Rhine, extending
west and south to and perhaps beyond the river Maas,
thus nearer and more exposed to the influences of
Roman civilization ; and the Ripuarians, on the right
bank of the Rhine.

During the middle and last half of the third cen-
tury the Salian Franks had frequent struggles with
the Romans, but, though often defeated, they were
able speedily to recover. In the middle of the fourth
century they extended into Toxandria, between the
Maas and the Scheldt, and were acknowledged by
JuHan as subjects of the empire. From time to time
they were granted lands by candidates for the im-

28 The Age of Charlemagne,

perial purple anxious to secure their aid. Thus they
gradually increased in power and in extent of ter-
ritory.

In the course of the wanderings of these German
tribes, leaving their old homes and coming into new
lands, the old heathen customs and religion lost their
hold. As they estabHshed themselves in the richer
and more fertile lands of the South, hunting and semi-
pastoral pursuits gave place to the agricultural, a
more settled form of life, so that landownership and
a more advanced political life and organization de-
veloped. Wars being more regular and prolonged,
the temporary war chieftainship became a permanent
kingship. The king, who was chosen by acclamation
of the warriors from the chief or royal family, main-
tained order in time of peace and commanded the
army in time of war, being supported by the volun-
tary gifts of the tribesmen, who in peace formed the
great council or assembly, and in war the army. As
the king's authority and importance grew he came to
be the only one to have a comitatuSy or personal fol-
lowing of warriors, a privilege, in the time of Tacitus,
belonging to every chief of abiHty.

In all this development the Salians speedily took
the lead among the Franks. When, in the first dec-
ade of the fifth century, Stilicho called the legions
back from Gaul and the frontier stations for the de-
fence of Rome, nothing stood in the way of their
advancement, and they extended their settlement to
both sides of the Scheldt. They appear also at this
time to have had a king with his residence at Tour-
nay, while the Ripuarians continued longer in their

Clovis. 29

old organization, being settled in and about Cologne
as their chief city. They still fought in union with
the Romans against the Visigoths, thus extending
their influence towards the south. In the great battle
of Chalons against the Huns in 451, they served with
other tribes under the Roman leader ^Etius.

Their first king was named Clogio or Clodio. A
generation later came Childerich, who belonged to
the family called Merovingian, though the origin of
this name is not known. With his son Clovis, who
succeeded to the rule in 481, the real historical im-
portance of the people begins.

Already the last Emperor of the West had given
place to the German king Odoacer, and in all the
provinces German kingdoms had been founded.

Whatever the deeper insight of Clovis may have
taught him, whether he beheld, as in a vision, the
future glory of the Prankish kingdom uniting all the
German tribes in one wide rule, and extending its
sway over the whole of western Europe, it is certain
that he did undertake and successfully carry out a
policy which not only gave to his rule a wide exten-
sion, but also paved the way for the union of all the
German peoples under the Prankish sway. The
foundation of the new kingdom was laid when, in
486, Clovis gained the rest of the Roman territory
from the Somme and the Maas to the Seine and the
Loire by his victory over Syagrius, whom Gregory
of Tours calls King of the Romans. In this conquest
he was able to unite the scattered bands of eastern
Pranks in a union now for the first time effected.
Thus the kingdom of Clovis extended southward, new

30 The Age of Charlemagne,

territory was annexed, and the people were taken
under his rule. The old northern lands were not
given up ; the conquest did not result in a migration
and the division of the new lands. The Romans
kept their freedom and their personal rights. Unlike
Theodoric, Clovis did not try to fuse the Romans and
the Germans into one people. This shows the great
significance of his conversion to Christianity. With a
Christian wife, a Burgundian princess, ruHng a Chris-
tian people, in the midst of a Christian land, and
having already maintained friendly relations with the
Catholic clergy,^ he was not likely to remain long a
heathen. Whether or not we accept the story of his
conversion on the field of battle with the Alemanni
in 496, when, his old gods having apparently forsaken
him, he agreed in case of victory to accept the Chris-
tians' Christ, the important fact is that he became
a Roman Christian, while the other German tribes,
converted through the work of Ulfilas and the Goths,
were Arians. This fact gave to the Roman element
great significance. It is said that three thousand of
his followers were baptized at the same time, thus
showing the weakening of their old heathenism.
Clovis made his residence on Roman territory near
Paris. Thus from being the king of a small German
tribe he became the lord of an extended, largely
Roman kingdom, and by his Christianity entered
into relations with all the great powers, of Europe,
the emperor at Constantinople and the Bishop of
Rome, and began that remarkable career from whose

1 Gregory of Tours, vol. ii., p. 27; Frodoard, vol. i., p. 13; cf.
Wait/,, vol. ii., p. 42, note 3.

The Victories of Clovis, 31

results arose the great modern states of western
Europe. " Connection with the old world was en-
tered into at the very moment that a new world began
to be formed — almost was formed — by Clovis him-
self." ^

The church by her indorsement made his position
more secure among the old semi-Roman population,
while he became the sole military support of the
church in the West against both Arians and heathen.
His victories followed one another in quick succession.
The Alemanni were conquered in 4.96 ; the Amoricans,
on the sea-coast between the Seine and the Loire,
submitted in 497. In 500, near Dijon, he conquered
the Burgundians and made them tributary ; and
again, as champion of the orthodox faith against the
Arians, he overcame the powerful Visigoths at
Poitiers in 507. In the following year he was made
Consul and Patrician of the Romans by the Emperor
Anastasius. Though these were empty titles, as far
as defined powers and position in the empire were
concerned, they undoubtedly increased his influence
among the Roman population in his kingdom, and
emphasized his relations with Rome and with the
church.

In extending his possessions to the south and east
he came in contact with Theodoric, who was at the
height of his power as ruler of the great Ostrogothic
kingdom in northern Italy, and here his progress was
checked.

The remaining years before his death, in 511, were
spent in conspiracies and murders, by which he got

1 Waitz, vol. ii., p. 48.

32 The Age of Charlemagne,

rid of the other Prankish kings who had not yet sub-
mitted. In this way a vacancy was made on the
throne of the Ripuarians, and he was proclaimed
their king. "And thus," says Gregory of Tours,
*' God daily subdued his enemies beneath his hand,
and increased his kingdom, for that he walked before
him with a true heart and did that which was pleas-
ing in his eyes." ^ By his victories and murders he
had extended his rule until it comprised practically
the whole territory between the Rhine and the Rhone
on the east and the ocean on the west and the Pyre-
nees on the south.

At his death, in accordance with German law and
custom, whose breach would have caused much
greater evils than its observance, the kingdom was
divided among his four sons, who began their reign
as four separate and independent, though related,
kings. Out of this partition came the two main di-
visions of Neustria, the western kingdom, and Aus-
trasia, the eastern, corresponding roughly to the older
Salian and Ripuarian settlements. It is to be noted,
however, that the old German principle of division,
which threatened to destroy a unity built up with
such effort, and apparently so necessary to the in-
tegrity and continuity of the royal power, did not
have the effect of permanent disintegration ; for, on
the death of one of the brothers, his kingdom very
rarely went to his sons, but was shared by the re-
maining brothers, so that in this way unity would be
restored and thus would tend to reappear from time
to time. Besides, this principle was supposed to
1 Gregory of Tours, vol. ii., p. 40.

Increase of Territory, 33

check civil strife and to emphasize an underlying
family unity.

Under the sons of Clovis and their successors,
however, bloodshed, treachery, and strife present a
dismal picture. Yet the power of the Prankish kings
increased and their territory was extended. Thurin-
gia, northeast of the country of the Alemanni, was
conquered in 530. The complete conquest of Bur-
gundy, prevented by Theodoric in the lifetime of
Clovis, was effected in 534, and Provincia, south of
it along the Mediterranean, was annexed in 536.
Bavaria, east of Alemannia, was made tributary in
555, though it did not lose completely its indepen-
dence until 787. Vasconia was conquered in 567, and
the Vascones, farther south, were brought into sub-
jection in 601.

In the reigns of Clotaire II. and of his son Dago-
bert the Merovingian power seemed to be at its
height.

CHAPTER V.

THE MEROVINGIAN MONARCHY — ELEMENTS OF
FEUDALISM — MAYORS OF THE PALACE.

HE kingdom thus formed and consoli-
dated comprised three principal parts,
Austrasia, Burgundy, and Neustria; but,
though rarely united under a single king,
^ there was a practical underlying unity
which manifested itself in various ways.

For a time the nominal power of the kings in-
creased with the extension of territory, the increase
of wealth, and the growing influence of Roman ideas
of government. At the same time the royal power
had gradually changed from a simple military chief-
tainship to an absolute dominion — a change due very
largely to the influence of Roman and ecclesiastical
ideas. But other powers were growing at a greater
rate. The race of the Merovingians was fast losing
its moral and physical strength and courage. Treach-
ery and fraud, murders and cruelties, not less than
debauchery and licentiousness, aggravated by the
removal to a more enervating cHmate and surround-
ings, had gradually sapped the strength and un-
dermined the valor of tlie kings. While the royal

34

The People — The Chiefs — The Kmg, 35

power was growing by great accessions of wealth and
territory, that of the chiefs and leaders grew too,
until, from being great by reason of their individual
characteristics of superior force and courage, they
became a territorial and hereditary aristocracy, and
secured the possession of special jurisdiction and the
exercise of powerful privileges, which tended to in-
crease still further their power, and to make them
less and less dependent upon the kings.

Thus in the evolution of the government of the
middle ages, in the development out of the old tribal
relations, and in the change of conditions from the
earlier, simple wandering life to the later more settled
and complex forms, there were three elements or tend-
encies, the popular, the aristocratic, and the royal.

First, as to the people in general. It is not neces-
sary to enter into the vexed question as to the ori-
ginal existence of the mark, or free village community,
among the early Germans, though Tacitus affords
little if any support for such a theory, while the
numbers and importance of a really free population
in early times have been very much overestimated.
Whatever the numbers may have been, the strifes
and struggles, the confusion and chaos, of the sixth
and the seventh centuries materially reduced and
weakened them. Even though they might have had
a fair share in the division of lands consequent upon
the conquest of new territory, it would be most dif-
ficult and dangerous for the smaller proprietors to
attempt to hold them alone. Hence arose the custom
of holding the lands as a benefice, or /;/ beneficiOy
from the king or from some other great and power-

o

6 The Age of Charlemagjie,

ful lord, whose protection would secure the use of
the land, even if the title had to be renounced. This
condition of landholding was brought about in two
ways: One who had no land, or had lost it, might
receive from some large landholder, at first, usually,
in such a case, from the church, land which he might
use and cultivate, though without holding the title
to it, but guaranteed and protected in his use of it
by the real owner. On the other hand, one \y\\o
had land which he did not feel himself able to hold
any longer might give up the title to some powerful
lord, under whose protection he might retain the use.
This is the way in which the feudal holding of land
grew up. In one other way the position of the free-
man was weakened and made dependent, thereby
increasing the power of the king and great chiefs.
Personal security was uncertain, and a man unable
to defend himself commended himself to some power-
ful chief, and became his man or vassal, receiving
protection and rendering faithful service. This is the
way in which the feudal personal relation grew up.
There was much in the earlier history of the Roman,
Gaul, and German to suggest and prepare for these
relations of lands and persons; but the actual reaH-
zation of these conditions was due to the lack of
security, both of land and of persons, and to the
weakness and unsettled state of a central power,
consequent upon the strife and confusion which have
been described. It was some time before these two
elements, the landholding and the personal relation,
were united, resulting in the system by which land
was held on condition of personal service, the essential

The King a7id the Aristocracy. 2>7

characteristic of feudalism. At this time, however,
land was held in benefice without any thought of
personal relations, and commendation or vassalage
existed between a man and his lord without any
connection with land.

These movements were going on spontaneously
and independently all through the sixth and seventh
centuries, increasing all the time in extent and fre-
quency, at first more particularly in connection with
the church and church lands, that the church's estates
might be cultivated and the protection and immu-
nities afforded by her secured.

All this tended to increase the power of the king
and that of the great lords ; and the struggle which
ensued had this importance — to show whether a
strong central power could be established at once in
the newly forming Prankish kingdom, and a mon-
archy develop directly out of the earlier tribal /:on-
ditions; or whether some other constitutional form
would furnish a stage of transition to the later mon-
archy. As an actual fact the latter condition was
realized, and feudalism formed the transitional phase.
The contest between the king and the aristocracy
was already evident at the close of the sixth century,
and although the rise of the mayors of the palace, to
which we must now very briefly refer, changed the
form of that struggle and postponed the result, it did
not make it less certain.

With the increasing importance of the kings, all
who were in any way connected with them also in-
creased in influence. Their court took on more and
more the character of the royal courts of older mon-

38 The Age of Charlemagne.

archies, and personal service became of high honor,
and those who rendered it were correspondingly ex-
alted. Foremost of these was the chief officer of the
palace, major doimcs, as he was called. This was at
first only another name for seneschal, that is, the
oldest or first of the servants.^ The position was a
purely personal one, carrying with it merely a gen-
eral oversight of household affairs, as is shown by the
fact that the name appears originally in any court
among the officers of the queen's household or of that
of a prince or princess. Furthermore, there were
several, at first, serving the king, and therefore prob-
ably one in each palace or royal residence. As the
importance and dignity of the office rose with that of
the king, its duties came to be held by a single officer
in the kingdom. A great deal of confusion has arisen
from a failure to observe the gradual change which
took place in this office, unlike that of the other royal
offices, and its humble beginning, which will account
also for the many and contradictory descriptions
given of it.

With the development of the royal court, the
mayor of the palace became the chief court officer,
directing all affairs of court, training the youths sent
up for the king's service, maintaining law and disci-
pline among the chiefs, and holding the chief place
among the secular members of the assemblies held
by the king for counsel or judicial business. Later
he appeared as the administrator of justice. During
the minority or incapacity of the king the conduct of
the realm was in his hands. Necessarily also certain

* Waitz, vol. ii., part ii., pp. 71, 86.

The Mayor of the Palace, 39

financial duties would begin to devolve upon him :
the care of the royal property, raising and disbursing
the royal revenue, at first merely in household affairs
directly connected with the palace and the court, but
finally all revenue, since there was no real distinction.^
This control of the royal finances, grants of land, and
general administration of the palace and court in-
creased his power greatly and gave him a strong
influence over the chiefs, whom he could reward or
neglect at will. His influence soon came to be felt
throughout the kingdom, at first in close dependence
upon the king, but soon without, and even almost in
spite of, him, in consequence of the growing degen-
eracy and many minorities of the. later Merovingian
dynasty. It was here perhaps that the power and
final victory of the aristocracy were most plainly
shown. Originally, like all the other officers appointed
by the king, the chiefs had brought it about that not
only was he chosen from them, but they were able
to exercise a potent influence in his election, thus
making him in some sort their representative and
leader. His position came to be assured for life, and
in this way more and more independent of the king.
The issue was decided in the reigns of Clotaire H.
and his son Dagobert. Clotaire had been called by
the chiefs of Austrasia and Burgundy to the rule of
their kingdom after the fall of the preceding admin-
istration, which they themselves had accompHshed by

1 Gregory of Tours (bk. ix., p. 43) mentions that Childehert sent
the mayor of the palace and the count of the palace to Poitiers to take
a census of the people, rectifying the list according to recent changes,
in order to assess the tax which had been paid from the time of his
father.

40 The Age of Ckarleinagne.

the overthrow of Brunhilda in 613. As Perry very
forcibly says : " Thus, after a long series of rebellions,
the rising aristocracy gained their first great victory
over the monarchy ; we say the monarchy, for in the
battle which made him king of the whole Prankish
empire no one was more truly defeated than the
nominal victor, Clotaire II., himself. He was, in fact,
an instrument in the hands of the seigniors for the
humiliation of the royal power. It was not because
Neustria was stronger than Austrasia and Burgundy
that the Neustrian king obtained a triple crown, but
because the power of the seigniors was greater than
that of the infant kings and their female guardian." 1

The edict of 615,^ which issued in a somewhat
modified form the decisions of the Council of Paris
in 614, sealed the doom of the Merovingian kings ^
by dividing and weakening their power. Further
concessions were made; the immunities and privi-
leges of the seigniors were confirmed. By means of
these immunities — that is, rights of special jurisdic-
tion and the exercise of privileged powers, which
were given to both ecclesiastical and lay lords — a
real grant of public authority was made. This was
another element which entered into and built up the
feudal system.

The leaders of the victorious party, the mayors of
the palace, were the chief gainers. From this time
on the power of the mayor of the palace grew until
it completely overshadowed that of the king. All
important business passed through his hands ; all of-

1 Perry, p. 196. 2 Boretius, vol. i., pp. 20-23.

3 Lehuerou, p. 257.

Rois Faineants. 41

ficials were responsible to him ; he distributed all
honors and favors, took the king's place with the
subjects, received letters addressed to the king, issued
royal documents and decrees, and stamped his name
on the coin of the realm, really occupying the posi-
tion of regent or under-king.i

Thus, while the once strong Merovingian kingdom
was robbed of its power, and in place of faithful sub-
jects with definite duties and obligations to their king
a strong aristocracy had arisen, exercising royal pre-
rogatives and aiming at feudal independence, a check
at once appeared in the power and position of the
mayor of the palace.

The aristocracy found that in freeing themselves
from the enfeebled power of their kings they had
come into conflict with a new power increasing In
strength and importance, and though at first the
representative, threatening to become the master of
their own. Arnulf, Bishop of Metz, the residence of
the Austraslan king, and Pippin of Landen were most
prominent as mayors of the palace during the early
part of the seventh century, and really saved the
kingdom from the anarchy into which it seemed
about to fall. Though nominally united under Dago-
bert, the son of Clotaire II., each division was prac-
tically ruled by a mayor of the palace.

The Merovingian kings who ruled from this time
have borne in history the name of rois faineants, the
do-nothing kings, a succession of children or of adults
corrupted and weakened in childhood, thus rendered
incapable and incompetent. In Austrasia the power

1 Waitz, vol. ii., part ii., pp. 71, 83-100, 397-400-

42 The Age of Charlemagne.

of the mayors of the palace continued in the line of
Pippin, though an attempt to seize the crown by-
Pippin's son Grimoald resulted in his death. But
another Pippin arose. This was Pippin of Heristal,
the son of Begga, daughter of Pippin of Landen and
of Ansegis, the son of Arnulf, Bishop of Metz. The
separation had been growing wider and the strife
more bitter between the Neustrian and Austrasian
parts of the kingdom, and at last there had come open
war. At the battle of Testry, in 687, one of the great
decisive battles of the world's history, Pippin had led
the Austrasian hosts to victory. This victory not
only signalized the triumph of the Austrasian, the
eastern or German elements, over the more Roman-
ized, uniting all under the German sway, but it ended
the power, though not the royal name, of the Mero-
vingian kings, and established Pippin and his house
in supreme control. From his time the title of the
mayors of the palace was Dux et Princeps Francorum,
and the years of his ofBce were reckoned on all public
documents, and his son Charles Martel was also called
subregulus.

CHAPTER VI.

CHRISTIANITY AND THE CHURCH AMONG THE
EARLY FRANKS — CONVERSION OF CLOVIS —
THE BISHOPS.

E must now consider the influence of this
important history upon the extension and
development of the Prankish church.

The migrations and conquests by the
German tribes of the North and their set-
tlements in the territory of the Roman empire had two
results. In many cases they had partly, in some cases
wholly, destroyed the missionary work and ecclesias-
tical establishments of the earlier period, especially
along the Rhine and the Danube, or corrupted them
by admixtures of heathenism. But in the case of the
Germans themselves the result had been quite gener-
ally the uprooting and unsettling of their old heathen-
ism, weakening its hold upon them. As they came
in contact with the newly Christianized empire, many
conversions were made by soldiers, captives, and
slaves.

The great work of Ulfilas among the Goths in the
latter half of the fourth century was the first organ-
ized effort among them, however, and his labors, ex-
tending to his death in 381, resulted in their general

43

44 J^h^ ^g^ of Charlemagne.

conversion. The form of Christianity was the Arian-
ism prevaiHng in the empire at that time, and still
further spread by the influence of the Emperor Valens.
From this beginning Arian Christianity spread among
the other related tribes, extending with the Visigoths
through Gaul and Spain and with the Ostrogoths in
northern Italy. The Vandals in Africa and the Bur-
gundians on the banks of the Rhone and Saone were
won over to the same faith, as were also the Suevi in
Spain, the Rugians and others along the Danube, and
the still larger tribe of the Langobards, about to form
the great Lombard kingdom in Italy. '* Down to the
end of the fifth century Arianism was professed by
the larger portion of the German world ; it had more
and more assumed the character of a national German
Christianity, and it almost seemed as if the whole
German world, and with it the universal history of the
future, were its secure prey." ^

This explains the immense significance and far-
reaching importance of the conversion of Clovis and
the growing power of the Franks to Catholic Chris-
tianity at the close of the fifth century. That conver-
sion was the turning-point for the downfall of Arian-
ism and the establishment of the Nicene faith.

To the oppressed and persecuted Catholics Clovis
appeared as a savior and avenger, while the hope of
the future spread and ultimate triumph of orthodoxy
centred in him. The long succession of cruel, treach-
erous, and aggressive warfare, waged avowedly for
the church as well as for the kingdom, was hailed as
the work of a modern David, a second Constantine,

1 Kurtz, vol. i., pp. 443, 444.

Kings Aided by the Bishops, 45

a true champion of Christianity against heretics and
heathens. The alHance was natural, and both sides
fully realized the advantages. Avitus, Bishop of
Vienne, wrote to Clovis : '' As often as you fight, we
conquer." 1 And Clovis expressed himself in a simi-
lar manner : '' If we acquire the friendship of the ser-
vants of God and exalt them with honors and show
our veneration for them by obedience, we trust that
we shall continually improve the condition of our
kingdom, and obtain both temporal glory and a coun-
try in the kingdom of heaven."^

The church did not stop with mere words of bless-
ing and encouragement. As the Frankish kings
carried their victorious arms south into the Gallic
provinces and east to the Moselle and Rhine districts,
they found there the old episcopal sees, many still im-
portant, some rich and influential, whose bishops had
been able to attain great power in their cities as the
Roman empire lost its hold. These readily joined
with the Frankish kings and aided them in establish-
ing their conquest of the country. They were there-
fore not merely acknowledged in their positions, but
were also endowed with new honors and dignities.
Many of them, like Gregory of Tours, were from old
senatorial families, and retained the culture and ideals
of the old empire, often taking the part of intercessors
and protectors for the Roman inhabitants of the cities
with their new German rulers. Frequently they pro-
vided for the defence of their cities durinsf the contests

1 ** Epistola Aviti, Ep. Vienn., ad Chlodov.," Bouquet, vol. iv.,
p. 49.

2 " Preceptio Chlodov.," Bouquet, vol. iv., p. 615; Perry, p. 449.

46 The Age of Charlemagne,

between the Prankish kings. The kings also made
use of them in securing a firmer recognition of the
royal power, and this conferred upon them a certain
political influence.! Thus their power grew in conse-
quence of their close connection with the state. Their
spiritual power, enforced by the right of excommu-
nication and other ecclesiastical penalties, was now
supported by the strong arm of the growing secular
power. Large sums of money were bestowed upon
the church, the administration of which came into
their hands. Landed estates were made over to them,
and, as special immunities and privileges were granted
on all church lands, they assumed a greater indepen-
dence. Superstition came to the aid of the natural
feelings of gratitude and devotion, till it became a
common saying that as water quenched fire so a gift
to a church put away sin. 2

There may be noted, therefore, a great increase in
the powxr of the bishops over that of the earlier
period. No longer do we hear of great presbyters,
but with the growing institutionalism of the church
its higher officers came into great prominence and
exercised a social and political, as well as ecclesiasti-
cal and spiritual, power. Bishops took their place in
the national assemblies and councils of the kings, and
were able to exercise an influence in the appointment
and installation of the counts.^ Li this way they en-
tered into and became a part of the growing feudal

1 Waitz, vol. ii., part ii., pp. 57-59.

2 " Sicut aqua extinguit igneni, ita eleemosyna extinguit peccatum.'
(Muratori, vol. v., p. 628; Perry, p. 467, note I.)

3 Waitz, vol. ii., part ii., pp. 39, 60.

Power of the Bishops. 47

regime, wielding a greater power than the lay lords,
by reason of their additional ecclesiastical and spirit-
ual position. Chilperic, the Neustrian king in the last
quarter of the sixth century, whom Gregory of Tours
calls a modern Nero, is reported to have said : " None
truly reign but the bishops ; our dignity has departed
and is transferred to them." ^

These great spiritual lords, strong in popular sup-
port, rich in gold and lands, possessed of what intel-
lectual power there was, surrounded by vassals, ruHng
their clergy, rivalling, often successfully, the counts
and great lay lords, the censors of kings, freed by im-
munities from many burdens and obligations, attained
a height of power seemingly almost unassailable. Yet
in their very greatness lay the source of danger and
weakness.

The church had transferred to the Prankish mon-
archy the old scriptural idea of royal authority and
power, and even acknowledged the king as its lord
and master. This power he was not slow to accept
and exercise. The same despotism which he acquired
towards his subjects he showed towards the church.
If he fought for the church Hke a Constantine, he
ruled it in the same despotic way. He might order
churches to be restored, Jews to be baptized, and
heathen customs to be abolished ; he could also, as
did Chilperic, command that the distinction of persons
in the Trinity should be no longer recognized, but the
name *' God " only be used, and force this order on all
the doctors of the church ;2 add, by his own authority,

1 Perry, p. 472.

? Gregory of Tours, bk, v., pp, 288, 289.

48 The Age of Charlemagne.

four letters to the alphabet and introduce them into
books and instruction. ^

Especially did the authority of the king show itself
in the matter of appointment to the chief ecclesiastical
offices, particularly to the important bishoprics. The
canonical law, as it had been established before the
Prankish conquest, gave to the clergy and people of
the city the right to elect their bishop, requiring at
the same time the assent of the metropolitan and of
the other bishops of the province. Later synods had
endeavored repeatedly to enforce this rule. But the
kings, perhaps as early as Clovis, claimed the right of
appointment, and the church was forced to acknow-
ledge it, resisting only a most unreasonable choice, as
of a notorious evil liver or of a mere layman.^

Ecclesiastical positions came more and more under
the direct patronage of the king, and those who lived
about the palace, high in the king's confidence and
favor, received appointments to such as their reward.
In this way Germans were substituted for Romans in
the episcopate, and the church was bound still closer
to the ruling power. Promises of aid, actual services,
and even money payments took the place of spiritual
character as the requirements for a successful candi-
date, till one saw in many of the bishops little else but
mighty lords, holders of vast estates ; and even counts

1 Gregory of Tours, bk. v., p. 290. These four letters seem to have
been derived from the Greek w, <p {ph), 6 {th), and x (<^^0-

2 Gregory of Tours, bk. viii., p. 451 : " Laban, Bishop of Eauze,
died this year, and had as his successor Didier, a layman. The king
had promised with an oath that he would never choose a bishop from
the laity. But what can avail against that detestable thirst for gold
which rages in the heart of mortals ! "

The Temporal Power, 49

and other chief men forcibly seized the bishoprics
without consent of people or of king and held their
estates and revenues.^ The king used the bishops as
counsellors and ambassadors, and Arnulf was at once
Bishop of Metz and mayor of the palace. It is esti-
mated that at the close of the seventh century the
church owned one third of the land of Gaul,^ and
most of this was in the hands of the bishops and
abbots.

It has been said that much of this wealth and power
was necessary if the church wished to maintain her
position and to exercise any influence upon the people
and princes, who were accessible only by material in-
fluences, while, without such means of protection, she
would have been exposed to contempt and defeat.
Yet it was her temporal power and worldly posses-
sions that made her the object of envy and attack,
and the social and political positions occupied by her
chief officers that made them desirable in the eyes
of worldly, unscrupulous, and depraved men. It was
the bishop at the court and not in his church, at the
table of the rich and not in the home of the poor,
surrounded by his vassals in the pomp of his pride,
not in his fasts and vigils, whom men saw and did
not reverence, whom they attacked and whose posi-
tion they coveted.

We are reminded, however, that this is only one
side of the picture, yet historically the most prom-
inent. " Qui bene latiiit bene vixit; and of those who
in a humbler sphere endeavored simply to do their

i Waitz, vol. ii., part ii., p. 64.
2 Perry, p. 469.

50 The Age of Charlemagne.

duty in that spiritual office to which it had pleased
God to call them, little or nothing found its way into
the annals of their country ; and we have good reason
to believe that, amid the too general corruption of
these times, there were always some in whose hearts
the life-blood of the church was treasured and pre-
served." 1

1 Perry, p. 463.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY — MONASTICISM —
MISSIONARIES, IRISH, SCOTCH, AND ENGLISH.

HIS condition of the church and these ten-
dencies on the part of its chief officials
had their effect on the spread of Chris-
tianity. True, the arms of Clovis and of his
sons had carried orthodoxy wherever they
had gone, until at last only two tribes remained out-
side of the Prankish kingdom and unconverted to the
Catholic faith. The Visigoths in Spain, beyond the
reach of the Prankish arms, remained fierce Arians
until the conversion of their king, Reccared, in 587,
on which occasion, it will be remembered, the doctrine
of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son as
well as from the Pather was added to the Nicene
Creed, probably in order to assert most emphatically
and even on this point the absolute coequality of the
Son with the Pather. The importance of this con-
version was slight, however, as they were completely
overthrown by the Saracens in 711. The Ostrogoths
in northern Italy under Theodoric were Arian, under
the Byzantine rule they were nominally orthodox, but
the conquest and settlement by the Lombards in 568

51

5 2 The Age of Charlemagne.

reestablished Arianism. The CathoHc influence began
to be felt, however, in the time of Gregory the Great,
and after 663 the Lombard kings were orthodox.

The conversions from heathenism by the Prankish
power were at first nominal, though even this afforded
a foothold for the missionaries and an opportunity for
further training. Fear and bribery were important
agents; persecution and punishment of heathenism
served to make it unpopular. Baptism was regarded
as in itself accomplishing conversion, and the obser-
vance of Lent and paying tithes as the characteristic
marks of Christianity.^ Furthermore, the church had
taken up a policy of adaptation, which made the first
steps easy, but threatened serious dangers in its after
effects. It is one thing to emphasize points of agree-
ment held in common ; it is quite another to obliterate
real distinctions and to adopt deliberately that which
has always been associated with directly opposing
views. The latter was the dangerous course upon
which the church entered. Heathen customs were
adopted, feasts and festivals introduced, though with
Christian names. Even the existence of the old
divinities was in many cases acknowledged, though
their names were changed to devils and evil spirits.
Heathen temples were reconsecrated as Christian
churches. The whole idea of God was perverted and
a pantheon of saints erected. The ordeal, a purely
heathen institution, received a Christian form, verses
of the Bible were used in the church to tell fortunes
and decide lots, the relics and images of saints were
endowed with supernatural power and used as charms,

1 Boretius, pp. 68, by; " Karoli Magni Capitularia," xxvi., 4,
16, 17.

Demoralization. 53

and reverenced, if not worshipped, as such. Thus a
heathenish materiahstic spirit was allowed to enter
into and take possession of Christianity merely in
order that its outward form might be more readily
accepted and more quickly adopted.

Christianity made little progress among the hea-
then at first, however. In the Moselle and Rhine
districts there were the bishoprics of Cologne, Treves,
Metz, Toul, and Liege, also churches in Mayence,
Worms, Spires, and Strasburg, and on the Lower
Danube.^ Some of these were destroyed in the first
shock of conquest, but many kept their continuity
unbroken and made converts among the German
tribes. There was no special missionary work by
the Franks among the Germans beyond the Rhine.
The Prankish clergy were too much occupied with
other interests nearer home, and when, in the sixth
and seventh centuries, they did show any activity it
was almost wholly confined to the old Salian and
Belgian districts. During the fifth and sixth centuries
the gloom of chaos and of barbarism fell upon every-
thing. In the contact with civilization, barbarism at
first exercised the strongest influence. The disor-
dered and turbulent Hfe, brutal passions, materiahzed
conceptions, could not fail to have a demoralizing
effect upon the clergy. The results upon the bishops
we have already considered, and, as Chaucer wrote,
under similar conditions in England :

" If gold rust, what shall iron do? "

In the midst of all this evil and confusion, dark-
ness and demoralization, the Benedictine order was

1 Waitz, vol. ii., part i., p. 76.

54 The Age of Charlemagne.

introduced into Europe from the foundation made
by Benedict of Nursia at Monte Cassino in 528. To
the scattered monasteries estabHshed already he gave
a unity and general rule, and increased their number
and efficiency. The rule was practical as well as
religious, demanded physical as well as intellectual
labor, study as well as prayer, and more of these than
of fasts and vigils and fleshly asceticism.^

Multitudes flocked to them from all classes of so-
ciety. Kings laid down their crowns and soldiers
their arms ; some entered through cowardice and su-
perstition ; some through devotion to high hopes and
noble purposes ; some through despair and wretched-
ness. But a great work lay before them all, and
manfully they set out to perform it. They became
the pioneers of Europe, cultivating both mind and
soil. Centres of deep religious life, they were at the
same time the sources of a great and beneficent activ-
ity. As far as they could they fostered learning,
preserved books, and kept alive a sense of the reality
of that higher life which is not discerned by the
senses, but is real and is eternal.

The real incentive to this, and to the rest of the
missionary activity, came, however, from across the
seas. Ireland had lighted on her shores a lamp of
learning and of religious life, destined not to go out
until the whole Western world had been illumined
by its brightness and had caught the fire from its
flame. Ireland had been converted by the labors,
the holy life, and the beautiful character of St. Patrick
in the fifth century, and Scotland in the sixth cen-

1 The rule in full is translated in Henderson, pp. 274-314.

Irish Missionaries. 55

tury by St. Columba, who had gone over from Ire-
land. The fruits of their labors showed themselves
in zeal for learning and a fervent devotion, which
gave to Ireland the name of Isle of the Saints ; they
also aroused an intense missionary activity, which,
not content with the conversion of a large part of
England, extended to the Continent, where Irish mis-
sionaries entered the wilds and forests, and in the
sixth and seventh centuries carried on their work
among the Visigoths, Alemanni, Burgundians, and
Lombards. Fridolin seems to have been the first,
and began his work among the Visigoths near Poi-
tiers about the year 500, and later, under the protec-
tion of Clovis, after the conquest in 507, he founded
several churches and monasteries, afterwards going
among the Alemanni farther east. Columbanus suc-
ceeded him and laid the real foundations of the later
Christian life and learning. He left Ireland in 590
and crossed the Prankish kingdom until he came to
a wild and savage district among the Vosges Moun-
tains, in northeastern Burgundy, where he established
his monasteries, Anegrey (Anagrates), Luxeuil (Lux-
ovium), and Fontenay (Fontanae). Of these Lux-
euil was the chief, and became one of the greatest
centres of learning and religious life. " In the first
half of the seventh century German names became
more frequent among the reforming bishops and
founders of religious communities, but all received
their inspiration directly or indirectly from Luxeuil." ^
Driven from Burgundy by the evil Brunhilda, he
withdrew to the Neustrian kingdom, where he was

1 Martin, vol. ii., p. 128.

56 The Age of Charlemagne.

welcomed by Clotaire, whose supremacy over the
whole Prankish kingdom he predicted would be es-
tablished before three years. Refusing to remain in
order to receive the rewards of his pleasing prophecy,
he went to Alemannia, where his disciple Gallus
founded the famous monastery of St. Gall. He
went on across the Alps into the Lombard kingdom,
where he founded still another monastery, Bobbio.
From time to time he engaged in correspondence
with the bishops of Rome, and though free from the
servile spirit of a later age, it breathes throughout
the deepest respect and reverence for the '' chair of
St. Peter" and the "successors of Peter and Paul,"
whom he greets as the head of the churches of the
West, occupying the chief seat of the orthodox faith. ^
To the example and influence of these Scotch-Irish
missionaries and their disciples was due, very largely,
the work of the Prankish missionaries. Furthermore,
after the Council of Whitby, in 664, when their work
in England came to an end, large numbers of them
crossed over to the Continent and carried on a vast
missionary work along the Rhine and among the
Hessians, Thuringians, Bavarians, and Alemanni.
Their work, however, while sincere, earnest, and
true, lacked unity and effective organization, and
seemed unable to resist the encroachment of heathen
reaction and the corrupting influences of worldly-
minded and immoral kings and princes. The same
defeat that they sustained in England they were
forced to undergo on the Continent at the hands of

^^ 1 Neander, vol. iii., pp. 29-35; Kurtz, vol. i., p. 457; Martin, vol.
ii., pp. 114-117, 127-131, especially p. 127, note 2.

English Missionaries. 57

English missionaries. The latter, with their practical
talent for organization and their devoted attachment
to the imposing spiritual power of the Church of
Rome, completed the foundations of the Prankish
church and brought about her complete incorpora-
tion into the great ecclesiastical system of the West,
which was rapidly forming under the prestige and
authority of Rome. The chief agent in this great
work was the English Boniface, the apostle of Ger-
many, aided by the mayors of the palace, particularly
by Pippin, afterwards King of the Franks, the father
of Charles the Great.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE NEW POWERS AND GREAT PURPOSES OF THE
MAYORS OF THE PALACE — CHARLES MARTEL
AND THE CHURCH — FOUNDATION OF FEU-
DALISM.

HE Prankish kingdom, which had been
estabhshed by the great conquests of the
early Merovingian kings, Clovis and his
successors, formed a wide-embracing
union of Romans and of Germans of
many different tribes. It was in this respect far
more complex and varied than any of the other Ger-
man kingdoms which arose out of the settlements
after the Volkerwanderung. But the task of holding
all together and sohdifying the union already begun
was too great for the kings of the seventh century.
Their own weakness and inability to continue to hold
the position they had gained, together with the rising
power of the great chiefs, whose influence appeared
not only in the palace, but especially in the outlying
provinces, threatened a complete overthrow and dis-
solution of the kingdom.

New powers were needed to realize the great possi-
bilities of a new and strong development, which were

58

Predominance of the German Element. 59

promised by this close contact of so many different
German tribes with Roman civiHzation and Chris-
tianity in one united kingdom. These new powers
were found in the mayors of the palace, or rather in
that one great family which had the origin of its
greatness in that position, but which finally realized
all these possibilities by the creation of an empire.
It was of the greatest significance that the power
passing from the enfeebled Merovingians, who re-
tained only the royal title, should go to the Austra-
sians, that part of the Prankish race which remained
most thoroughly German, so that the German ele-
ment gained a new influence ; and that at the same
time the union with the Roman civilization and with
the church was not broken, but received new life and
was still further developed.

The foundation of this larger work was laid, as we
have seen, by Pippin of Heristal, the grandson of
Arnulf of Metz and of Pippin of Landen. After
uniting Austrasia and the West, he proceeded to
unite the other German tribes. Among these were
the Friesians, whose king, Rathbod, seemed to be
threatening the northern borders of the Prankish
territory. Pippin conquered him and gave support
to the English missionary Willibrod, who was trying
to introduce Christianity there. The account of this
mission, as Bede gives it, is very interesting. " And
when they had come thither, being, moreover, twelve
in number, they turned aside to Pippin, leader of the
Franks,^ and were graciously received by him ; and

1 In the last part of the same chapter he is called " the most glorious
ruler of the Franks."

6o The Age of Charlemagne,

because he had lately conquered Hither Friesland,
having driven thence King Rathbod, he sent them
thither to preach ; also assisting them with his imperial
authority, lest any one should offer any hindrance
to their preaching, and exalting with many benefits
those who were willing to receive the faith. . . . But
after they who had gone thither had taught in Fries-
land for some years. Pippin sent Willibrod to Rome,
where Sergius still held the pontificate, with the
demand that he might be consecrated archbishop for
the Friesians. This was done in the year 696. . . .
Moreover, Pippin gave him a place for his episcopal
see in his famous fortified town which is called Vilta-
burg, that is, the town of the Vilti." ^

Pippin died in the year 714, and desired to leave
his power to his infant grandson, both his sons hav-
ing died ; but an illegitimate son, Charles, afterwards
called Martel, the Hammer, received the support of
the Austrasians and took up the work of his father.
By a great victory in 717 he gained Neustria and
was soon acknowledged by the other parts of the
kingdom, thus securing to himself the results gained
by his father at the victory of Testry. By concen-
trating all the power in his own hands, and not con-
fining himself to any single part of the realm, he was
able to bring about a more complete unity, which
was still further strengthened by the great warfare
in which he united all the German peoples against
the Mahometans.

His relations with the church are of the utmost

1 Bede, bk. v., chaps, x., xi.

Rebellious Bishops under Charles Martel. 6i

importance and interest. The bishops, as we have
seen, had come to hold positions of great influence,
especially in the cities of their residence, not only
over the Roman population, but over others, in con-
sequence of their new powers as lords of great es-
tates, with dependent tenants, and possessing almost
sovereign rights through the immunities granted
to them. These bishoprics were coming into the
possession of powerful families, and thus became
a great menace to the civil power. Some of the
bishops openly resisted the authority of Charles and
even denied him entrance to their cities. Charles
proceeded quite summarily against them. He re-
moved the refractory bishops from their sees and
gave their places, as well as some of the rich abbeys,
to his followers and kinsmen. These neglected the
spiritual interests and made no pretence to an eccle-
siastical order, giving themselves wholly up to the
secular rights and possessions belonging to their
offices. As Boniface said in a letter to the Pope,
" For the most part, in the cities, the episcopal sees
are given over to the possession of avaricious laymen
or to wicked and worldly clergy to enjoy in a merely
secular way."

It was not merely to punish rebellious bishops, how-
ever, that Charles bestowed rich church estates upon his
followers. It had been the practice in earlier times for
the kings and great chiefs to bestow lands as rewards
upon their followers, and this practice had grown in
frequency and extent. The great ecclesiastics had
been induced to follow the same method, except that

62 The Age of Charle^nagne.

they had not bestowed their lands outright, but as
precaria or per benejiciuni^^ for a definite or indefi-
nite period, usually for Hfe. Thus, while the church
lands were inalienable, the crown lands had been
largely disposed of before the Austrasian princes
came into power, and they had little with which to
reward their followers, their own possessions being
quite inadequate. Charles therefore found himself
turning to the immense property of the church, with
its large tracts of inalienable land. These he pro-
ceeded to bestow ill beneficio upon his followers, not
therefore making a complete confiscation for state
purposes as a formal secularization, but by irregular
and forcible means bestowing the property for occu-
pation or for usufruct. Hence from this time the
form of grant in beneficio, already in use by the
church, was used also by the prince, thus showing a
similar character in the grants.^

The reign of Charles Martel has been called a rude
epoch for the clergy and churches of the Prankish
kingdom, but by him and by his successors, Pippin
and Charles the Great, the West was saved to civili-

1 Frecariitm, a grant of land in answer to a request, hence revocable
at the will of the grantor; cf. our word " precarious." Benefitium, a
grant of anything, as a benefit or favor ; technically, in bencjicio or
per beneficiiim; also, originally, at the pleasure of the grantor, but
usually for life. These two terms are practically synonymous, and
when used of lands were applied at first almost exclusively to church
lands. " Beneficium, if used at all by the kings, was used to remu-
nerate their functionaries, taking the place of a money payment, thus
attached to the office rather than the man. ... It was not always
given by the rich to the poor. The heneficiiun has been the round-
about way by which the smaller proprietorship has been lost in the
larger." (Fustel de Coulanges, vol. v., pp. 185, 189.)

2 Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 3-21 ; Fustel de Coulanges, vol. v., especially
pp. 128-192; Adams, pp. 194-226; Emerton, vol. i., pp. 236-255.

Makometanism, 63

zation and to Christianity. The church's two great
victories of faith and of organization were won
through the victories of the sword of the Franks and
of the political order established by the three great
Carolingians.

Just on the eve of apparent triumph Arianism had
been conquered by the conversion of the Franks, but
it had again threatened Europe in the more terrible
form of Mahometanism. The devil, cast out, had
returned with seven other spirits worse than himself
to take possession of the swept and garnished house.

The almost endless theological disputes of the
great councils had left a dry theological dogma in
place of the living God, and Christian asceticism had
taken the place, of a living humanity. Mahomet
arose with all the zeal of a religious reformer and
gained a host of followers inspired with the enthu-
siasm of fanatical converts. Their watchword was
not a theological formula, but the living God ; not an
abstract theory, but a personal Being, who ruled and
governed all things and all men with an absolute
sway, and guided all affairs and every event in
accordance with a fixed, unalterable purpose. Sub-
mission to that will inspired, strengthened, and en-
nobled these fiery sons of the desert. Man, they
knew, was both body and soul, and the full enjoy-
ment of all his powers and faculties, physical, intel-
lectual, and spiritual, in this world and in the next,
was the final goal, the eternal reward of all his efforts.
All natural pleasures were allowed if nothing was
done to the injury of another, but no false stimula-
tion was permitted. ** Mahomet," it has been said,

64 The Age of Charlemagne.

" is a prophet of glory and power; his kingdom is of
this world ; the earth and all its good things belong
to the true behever." With this prophecy his fol-
lowers went forth, the sword their missionary, and
death on the battle-field the surest way to paradise.
Swiftly they spread their faith over land and sea.
Arabia was won from her old idolatries even before
the death of Mahomet in 6^2 ; by the middle of
the century Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and Persia had
yielded to their resistless onset. The banks of the
Indus, the limits of the empire of Alexander, were
reached in 707, while in the West they swept across
North Africa, and in 711 their leader, Tarik, passed
the pillars of Hercules, henceforth named after him
Djebel-Tarik, Gibraltar, '' mountain of Tarik." Twice
they attacked Constantinople, but the new invention
of the Greek fire kept them at bay, until a decisive
victory by the Emperor Leo III. in 717 forced them
to halt at the foot of the Taurus Mountains. Thus
all the old seats of Christianity in the East and South
had been swept away, — Carthage, Alexandria, Jeru-
salem, and Antioch, — and this disappearance of her
rivals left Rome supreme.

In the West the already weakened Visigoths of
Spain fell an easy prey before their onward march.
In 720 they crossed the Pyrenees, and Europe lay at
their feet. But a voice had cried, *' Hitherto shalt
thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud
waves be stayed." In 732 came that great battle
when the forces of the East and of the West met for
the final issue on the very spot where, two hundred
and twenty-five years before, had been fought the

Contests with the Arabs. 65

decisive battle between the Franks and the Visigoths,
the CathoHcs and the Arians, for the possession of
Gaul. The battle was terrific, but at last the com-
bined forces under Charles won the victory, though
with not enough strength, or with too much greed
for the booty, to pursue the retreating enemy and
end the struggle. This invasion marked the submis-
sion of the Aquitanians, and the title of '' king " was
changed by Eudes for that of ''duke." 1 In 733 Charles
reconquered Burgundy, and in the following year,
with the spoil taken from the Arabs, he built a navy
and attacked the Friesians by sea. The Saxons also
began a series of attacks, and, as we have seen, the
Arabs had only retreated, not submitted, so that
Charles was forced in the following years to continue
the struggle against them in Provincia.

This necessity had a most important bearing on
the slowly forming feudal system, whose elements
already have been brought to our notice. Up to
this time, holding land under some one else, and
owing service as a vassal or dependent of another,
had existed separately, nor had there been any neces-
sary connection of military service with either of
them. The contests which Charles had to carry on
against the Arabs in the South seem to have been
the occasion when these were first formally united,
and land was granted and held on the condition of
performing military service, which is one of the es-
sential features of the feudal system.

1 Martin, vol. ii., p. 206. It has been maintained that these Aquita-
nian dukes were related to the Merovingian kings, but Waitz (vol. iii.,
p. 9, note i) points out that this has been disproved beyond a doubt.

66 The Age of Charlemagne.

For the Arabs relied largely on their fleet horses
and strong cavalry force ; hence it was necessary to
introduce a similar equipment into the Frankish army.
In the dense forests and wild morasses of the North,
foot-soldiers had been used almost exclusively, and
mounted warriors had been of little advantage ex-
cept for predatory raids. The change, therefore, en-
tailed great expense, and Charles was obliged to aid
his followers by granting to them lands which they
could hold on condition of rendering military service.
This also explains his seizure of church lands, as he
could not get enough for the purpose elsewhere.^

Indeed, he was in great need. Placed between
two hydra-headed monsters, the paganism of the still
unconverted tribes in the North and the Mahome-
tanism of the fierce Arabs in the South, he was
obliged to maintain the greatest energy and ceaseless
warfare. The Saxons in the North still held out.
Christianity made no headway there, and their con-
tinual uprisings harassed the Franks. The Mero-
vingian king died in 737, but no chronicler recorded
his death, and Charles took no pains to provide a
successor.

Meantime the Arabs had fortified themselves in
Avignon and were spreading eastward. Charles
again turned his arms against them, and, aided by
Liutprand and the Lombards, finally drove them to
the far South. At last, in 740, all the enemies of
the Franks were subdued, and peace reigned supreme.

But it was a peace which had cost much and was
maintained by oppression. It rested with especial

1 Adams, pp. 206-208.

Charles M artel and the Church, 67

heaviness upon the Prankish church. She was forced
to sit by and see her wealth confiscated and distributed
among the Prankish leaders and their warlike fol-
lowers, and her lands assigned to them as feudal
holdings to be used for the support of warriors and
the furnishing of horses and of arms.

Although Charles thus made himself a terror and
a tyrant to the bishops and abbots of the Prankish
church, he was recognized as the only hope of the
Christianity of the West, and his name was held in
the highest honor at Rome. One of the Prankish
bishops saw, in a vision, Charles Martel delivered
over to the torments of the damned in the nether-
most hell for having robbed the churches of God of
their possessions ;^ while Boniface writes that without
his aid the church could not have been preserved and
defended, nor paganism and idolatry destroyed.

1 Mombert, pp, 28, 29,

I

CHAPTER IX.

BONIFACE, THE '' APOSTLE OF GERMANY " — THE
CONVERSION OF THE EASTERN GERMANS —
ORGANIZATION OF THE FRANKISH CHURCH —
UNION WITH ROME.

OT only is the conversion of the people
living along the borders of the Prankish
kingdom closely connected with the
name and work of Boniface, but also
the establishment and unification of the
whole ecclesiastical organization of the Pranks. So
important and extensive were the results which he
accomplished in this great work that he has been called
the "Apostle of Germany." His baptismal name
was Winfrid, of which Boniface is the Latin form,
taken when he entered the monastery, or perhaps
given him by the Pope to signify his connection with
and commission by the Roman Church.

He was born about 680, at Crediton, near Exeter,
in that part of Wessex now known as Devonshire.
His father intended him to follow secular pursuits and
to be the heir and administrator of his large property.
But the boy very early showed signs of a studious
and religious disposition, and was accordingly placed

68

Work amo7ig the Friesians. 69

in a monastery at Exeter, whence he removed to
Nutsall (Netley?), near Winchester. Here he soon
gained a reputation for scholarship and teaching abil-
ity, and gained the friendship of Daniel, Bishop of
Winchester, to whom many of his most valuable
letters were written.

Like so many other English youths, he was fond
of travel, and was attracted by great opportunities for
missionary work on the Continent. Soon after his
ordination to the priesthood, therefore, he left Eng-
land with a few companions, and directed his way to
the Friesians, intending to work among them. Here
he found Willibrod, an English missionary from York,
who had arrived in Friesia soon after the battle of
Testry, when the power of the Franks at the begin-
ning of Pippin's career was very great. Willibrod's
name also had been changed, and he had received the
name of Clement when, in the year 696, Pope Ser-
gius I. had consecrated him Bishop of Utrecht. But
Rathbod, the King of the Friesians, having taken
advantage of the death of Pippin and the consequent
disorder before the power was settled in the hands of
Charles Martel, had begun to devastate the churches
and to stop the work of the Christian missionaries.

Boniface accordingly returned to England, and in
718 made a fresh start. This time he went directly
to Rome, where he received the aid and advice of the
Pope, Gregory H., and a general commission for mis-
sionary work in central Europe. There is a great
significance in this early period of preparation for his
great life-work. He was born in the time of Theo-
dore, who had been consecrated and sent to England

The Age of Charlemagne,

as Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Vitalian, in
668, four years after the EngHsh, at the Council of
Whitby, had proclaimed their adherence to the
ecclesiastical rites and customs held by the church
at Rome. By the work of Theodore this action had
been confirmed and its results crystallized; schools
were estabhshed, which did away with the need of
dependence upon Ireland for intellectual light; the
English church was brought into final unity with
itself and with Rome ; and the elements of the East-
ern system of diocesan organization, developed under
imperial influence and laid down in the canons of
Chalcedon, were introduced into England, The
Council of Hertford, where this great work of dio-
cesan systematization was formally adopted and
established, had been held in 673,1 only a few years
before the birth of Boniface; consequently his early
life and education coincided with the first freshness
of the new system. It was therefore with the out-
lines and early practical working of this plan strongly
fixed in his mind, and with that great respect and
deep gratitude and devotion to the Roman see which
was so sincerely felt at that time in the English
church, expressed in the pages of Bede's history and
in the works of English missionaries, that Boniface
presented himself before the Bishop of Rome in 718,
and received his commission from Gregory II.

His first endeavors, after leaving Rome, were
among the Bavarians and Thuringians, restoring dis-
cipline and introducing order in the field of the un-

1 Hatch, p. 30. The author confuses the Council of Hertford with
that held at Hatfield in 680.

The Oath to St. Peter. 71

organized labors of the Irish and early Prankish
missionaries. But his work here did not meet with
very much success, and Rathbod of Friesia being
dead, he made his way to Utrecht, the scene of his
first attempts. He remained here for three years,
assisting WiUibrod and learning much in the way of
methods and practical experience. In 722 Willibrod
offered him a bishopric, but his restless zeal would
not permit him to settle permanently anywhere.

He accordingly left the Friesians, and took up
work among the Hessians and Saxons, with such suc-
cess that in the following year he was summoned to
Rome by the Pope. Here he was examined in his
faith, was ordained bishop without any special see,^
and took the famous oath which bound him and his
work to permanent unity with Rome, producing
results fraught with such vital and far-reaching im-
port to the Christianity of the West. The essential
part of this oath reads as follows : ^ '' In the name
of God the Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ, ... I,
Boniface, by the grace of God, bishop, do promise
to thee, O blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and
to thy vicar, the blessed Gregory, Pope, and to his suc-
cessors, . . . that I will maintain the whole faith and
purity of the holy Catholic faith, and by the help of
God will continue in the unity of that faith, . . . and
that in no way will I agree with anything contrary
tp the unity of the general and universal church
under any persuasion whatever ; but, as I have said,
I will in every way maintain my faith pure, and my
cooperation constantly for thee, and for the benefit

1 Eplscopus regionariiis. 2 Gieseler, vol. ii., p. 26. note 3.

72 The Age of Charlemagne,

of thy church, upon which was bestowed by God the
power to bind and to loose, and for thy vicar afore-
said, and for his successors. And whenever I find
that the conduct of the presiding officers of the
churches contradicts the ancient decrees of the holy
fathers, I will have no fellowship or connection with
them, but, on the contrary, I will prevent them if I
can, and if not I will report faithfully at once to my
apostolic lord. . . . Moreover, this declaration of my
oath, I, Boniface, a humble bishop, have written with
my own hand, and upon the most holy body of the
blessed Peter I have taken the oath as above written,
which also I promise to keep, God being my witness
and judge."

The significance of this oath is not merely that it
bound Boniface and his work to the Roman see, but
that it was the oath taken by the bishops of the
suburban and dependent churches of Rome, with such
changes as the different conditions required, and with
the substitution of the clause promising to oppose
anything against the Pope for the similar clause re-
garding the emperor and the state. i

That the work of Boniface was not only to Chris-
tianize, but to establish and to extend the ecclesiasti-
cal system which Theodore had brought to England
from Rome and the East, and to unite this whole
system under the Bishop of Rome, is shown in an old
report of the object of his mission : "That he should go
beyond the Alps, and in those parts where heresy was
rife should substitute therefor his saving teaching." ^

1 Neander, vol. iii., pp. 48, 49.

2 Ibid., vol. iii., p. 49, note i.

Union of Germany with Rome, 73

The lack of discipline and of effective organization
in the work of the Scotch and Irish missionaries, how-
ever sincere and earnest that work might be, had
allowed the springing up of corrupt and heretical no-
tions and practices, and had afforded no permanent
means of defence against barbarous and pagan tribes
without, and lawless, half-converted men within the
Christian communities.

The increasing and ever-widening power of the
Bishop of Rome, instructing, directing, restraining, and
consolidating, a power enforced by the aid and sup-
port of the Prankish rulers, which was made effectual
by the alliance of the Prankish kingdom with the Ro-
man Church, met a real necessity, and gave at once
the protection and discipline needed to bring these wild
hordes under the influence and training of Christianity.

The most effective agent in this great v/ork was the
English missionary Boniface. Por accompHshing it
he was well fitted, being endowed with great prudence
and foresight, a scholar and a teacher with ** a rare
genius for organization and administration." By
nature as well as by his oath he was the foe to all in-
dividualistic and unorganized effort, and saw at once
its weakness and its error. To him true Christianity
was impossible except in union with Rome, and his
one great aim was to make Germany as loyal and de-
voted to the Pope as was his native England.

From Rome he proceeded immediately to the court
of Charles Martel with letters of commendation.
Under the protection of this powerful prince he
followed the victorious armies of the Pranks among
the Hessians, though he was not very well pleased

74 The Age of Charlemagne.

with the enforced relations with the Prankish and
Celtic missionaries, who differed widely from him on
important subjects. His severe denunciation of them
may be explained by the fact that to him their mar-
riages were nothing but fornication and adultery, their
social life and lack of asceticism merely debauchery
and drunkenness. Without question some of them
served in war, and their lack of discipline and obedi-
ence to some strong central power called forth his
bitterest opposition. His final and permanent success
must be his justification. *' It is doubtful whether, in
the barbarous condition of those times, and amid the
commotion of almost constant civil wars, the indepen-
dent and scattered labors of the anti-Roman mission-
aries could have survived as well and made as strong
an impression upon the German nation as a consoli-
dated Christianity wdth a common centre of unity and
authority."^ The opinion of Ranke in this connec-
tion is also suggestive : '' We ought not to consider
the Christianization of Germany only from the point
of view of religious belief and teaching. How^ever
important these may be, it was of w^orld-historical
importance that some counteracting influence should
be prepared against Islamism, which was pressing
ever deeper into the continent of Europe. Boniface
knew right well what had happened in Spain; the
work of conversion which he was carrying on was the
chief cause why the same events did not repeat them-
selves in Gaul and Germany," ^

1 Schaff, vol. iv., p. 99.

'-* Ranke, " Weltgeschiclite," vol. i., pp. 286, 287. Quoted by
Hodgkin, vol. vi., p. 423, note i.

Archbishop Boiiiface. 75

It was the work of consolidation, however, and the
establishment of the diocesan system on the Continent
which Boniface accomplished in his union with the
state on one side and with the Church of Rome on
the other, which would have been impossible other-
wise, and which laid the necessary foundations for the
preservation and future spread of Christianity among
the Franks and their dependents. Monasteries and
bishoprics, as centres of learning and of authority,
were estabhshed in suitable places, testifying to his
practical wisdom and foresight. Monks and nuns
came over from England as teachers and exemplars
of right living among the people whom they wished
to elevate.

The accession of Gregory III. in 731 made no
break in the friendly relations with the Papacy, and
in 732 the Pope sent the pallium to Boniface and
made him an archbishop, though he was not by this
act made Primate of all Germany, as some have sup-
posed. His position was rather that of a metropolitan,
in whose charge were placed the more northern dis-
tricts where he had specially labored, particularly the
bishoprics of Tongres, Cologne, Utrecht, Worms, and
Spires.^

In the year 738 he made his third and last visit to
Rome, when he was invested with the powers and
authority of a papal legate, with a special commission
to visit the Bavarian church. Here he effected a
complete organization, and established the four
bishoprics of Salzburg, Freising, Passau, and Regens-
burg or Ratisbon. He held a synod of the Bavarian

1 Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 41, 42.

76 The Age of Charlemagne.

church in 740, and soon after established several
other bishoprics farther north : Eichstadt, Wiirzburg,
Buraburg, and Erfurt.

The death of Charles Martel in 741 opened a new
field of opportunity, made possible still closer rela-
tions with the state, and led the way to a more
timate union with Rome. Karlmann and Pippin, who
succeeded their father as mayors of the palace, were
more favorably disposed to the church and more
incHned to enter into closer relations with Rome.
Charles Martel had not been very discriminating be-
tween the Roman and the independent clergy, he
had been quite willing to allow the clergy to take
part in his battles, and he had not shown much respect
for church property when it was needed to support
the army in the wars against the Saracens.

The work of organization which Boniface had so
well carried on among the Friesians, Hessians, Thu-
ringians, and Bavarians of the North and East he was
now enabled to complete by the establishment of the
diocesan and synodal system in the great centres of
the Frankish kingdom.

The first so-called German synod was held in 742,
at the request of Karlmann, to establish order in the
church in his dominion, where ecclesiastical affairs
had been in great confusion for the past sixty or
seventy years.^ Boniface, next to Karlmann, in whose
name the acts of the synod were pubHshed, held the
chief place as archbishop and papal legate." From
this time the movement went on: new bishoprics

1 Jaff6, ol. iii., Bonif. Ep. 42.

2 ** Missus Sancti Petri," Boretius, vol. i., p. 25, art. I.

Archbishop of MamB. 77

were created in the chief cities, and the clergy of the
district made subordinate to their bishop, while the
bishops of the province were united under the bishop
of the chief city or metropolis as their head under the
Pope, and so-called metropolitan or archbishop. Synods
were to be held each year, by which a general over-
sight and systematic discipHne could be maintained.
Thus Boniface succeeded in introducing and estab-
lishing throughout the Prankish kingdom, by the
middle of the eighth century, the systematic organ-
ization that Theodore had established among the
English in the last part of the seventh.

As yet Boniface had had no fixed residence, and
was liable to the same charge he had brought against
the Celtic clergy, that of ordination without a fixed
diocese — absolute ordination, as it was called ; but in
745 he settled in Mainz, and that became the seat
of his archbishopric, the former bishop of the see hav-
ing been deposed by Boniface himself, for hunting
and for having avenged the death of his father by
killing the murderer.

In 744 Boniface laid the foundations of the monas-
tery of Fulda, destined to become one of the three
great centres of learning in Europe. The other two
were St. Gall, founded by Gallus, the disciple of
Columbanus, in 646, and Reichenau, founded in 724
by Pirminius, a Prankish missionary. In 744, also,
Boniface secured the condemnation of Adelbert,
Clement, and Virgil, Bishop of Salzburg, whom he
regarded as wicked and false clergy because not pro-
fessing allegiance to his system, nor working in har-
mony with his views. Some of the charges of peculiar

yS The Age of Charlemagne,

and dangerous teachings may have been well founded,
but most of them seem to have been due to prejudice,
ignorance, and misunderstanding.^

Boniface endeavored to develop the metropolitan
system also, whereby, as he says in a letter to Cuth-
bert. Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops should
hold the same relation to the metropolitans as the
metropoHtans, in their turn, should hold to the Pope.^
This scheme was not fully carried out, however, as
but one, or perhaps three, metropolitans were ap-
pointed for only a part of the Prankish kingdom.^

With the next Pope, Zacharias, Boniface does not
seem to have had such intimate and friendly relations ;
one or two of his letters give evidence of a firm op-
position to much that he understood was permitted
at Rome.*

It is now pretty clearly established, and quite gen-
erally accepted, that Boniface had little or nothing to
do with the political intrigues of the Pope and the
attempts of Pippin to gain the Prankish throne. He
might have known of Pippin's coronation at Soissons
in 751, but it is quite improbable that he had any
part in it, as his name is not mentioned in the ac-
counts by the early chroniclers, and his own letters
show that the disfavor in which he stood at that time
at the court of Pippin would preclude hispartlcipation.s

1 Neander, vol. iii., pp. 56-63; Kurtz, vol. i., pp. 470-472.

2 Jaff^, vol. iii., Bonif. Ep. 73.

3 Boretius, vol. i., p. 29, art. 3; Jaff^, vol. iii., Bonif. Ep. 48, 49;
cf. Neander, vol. iii., pp. 64, 65.

* Jaff^, vol. iii., Bonif. Ep. 51, "Ad Zach."

5 Kurtz, vol. i., pp. 470, 474; Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 63-67; Alzog,
vol. ii., p. 119, note i.

Martyrdom. 79

In 753 Boniface resigned his archbishopric, and
secured the appointment of Lull, one of his most dis-
tinguished disciples, as his successor, while he him-
self, with about fifty companions, again started on a
missionary expedition among the Friesians. Here,
on the 5th of June, 754 or 755, he was murdered by
a band of heathens, and thus secured a martyr's
crown. " His bones were deposited first at Utrecht,
then at Mainz, and at last in Fulda. Soon after his
death an English synod chose him, together with
Pope Gregory and Augustine, patron of the English
church. In 1875 Pope Pius IX. directed the Catho-
lics of Germany and England to invoke especially the
aid of St, Boniface in the distress of modern times." ^

1 Schaff, vol. iv., p. 96.

CHAPTER X.

ICONOCLASM AND THE PAPACY — THE DEVELOP-
MENT OF THE VENERATION OF SAINTS, RELICS,
AND IMAGES — THE EMPEROR LEO III. AND
THE ICONOCLASTIC EDICTS — POPE GREGORY II.
AND THE SITUATION IN ITALY — THE EVE OF
REVOLT.

SLAM, the religion of Mahomet, had
spread with rapid strides through coun-
tries which had been indeed the very
cradle of Christianity or among the first
to welcome and receive it, but in which,
alas! that Christianity had become weakened and
corrupted by endless theological disputes, and by a
false asceticism which had dried up the sources of its
vigor, had left its faith petrified in the mechanical
technicalities of a hfeless metaphysic, and had ren-
dered its worship an elaborate but barren ceremonial,
characterized more by superstition and idolatry than
by spirit and truth.

Not only were new objects of worship brought in
as intermediaries between the soul of the worshipper
and God, thus tending to fix the mind on lower forms
of the divine manifestation rather than on the divine

80

Veneration of Saints, 8i

Being himself, but material representations of those
intermediaries began to be employed, in order, it was
said, to concentrate and hold the attention. Thus the
veneration of saints and their relics and images was
taking the place of the spiritual worship of God.

The exaggerated worship of the Virgin Mary, con-
firmed by the title " Mother of God," given to her
by the Fourth General Council, only led the way in
this movement. To the cultus of the Virgin Mary
was added that of saints and martyrs, to whose names
were attached long biographies filled with legendary
accounts of miraculous deeds. In order to make a
deeper impression upon the minds of the people, es-
pecially of those who were unable to read, images of
these saints, pictures and statues, were produced, and
relics, either their bones, or clothing or other articles
associated or believed to have been associated with
them in life, were exhibited with great care and
reverence.

Soon it was discovered that the miraculous deeds
which the saint was said to have performed in life,
such as marvellous cures, rescues, and preservation
from danger, were accomplished also by these relics,
and thus they became the objects of acts of rever-
ence, prostrations, prayers, and rich offerings at the
shrines built in their honor, and a cult grew up
around them, differing practically in no way from
the acts of divine worship, though receiving a
different name.^

As early as the sixth century churches had been
adorned with pictures and statues of the saints, be-

1 -KpoaKvvrjaL^, and not ^arpeia.

82 The Age of Charlemagne.

fore which special acts of reverence, such as prostra-
tions, were performed, and by the beginning of the
eighth century the use of images as helps to and
objects of devotion had become universal.

But their use, at first at any rate, seems to have
been far more general in the East than in the West.
Serenus, Bishop of Massilia (Marseilles), had thrown
out and destroyed images in his churches; and al-
though Gregory the Great, on a previous occasion,
sending a picture of Christ and other pictures to a
hermit who had asked for them, said that they were
not intended to serve as objects of adoration, but
merely as memorials, he wrote to Serenus as follows :
** We have praised the zeal which you have shown
lest anything made by hands should be adored, but
we deem it wrong that you should destroy those pic-
tures, for painting is made use of in the churches in
order that those who are unable to read may at least
understand, in looking on the walls, what they cannot
read in the manuscripts." ^

Reference has been made very often to this decla-
ration made by Gregory I., and it was quoted fre-
quently in defence of the use of images; but so much
superstition and practical idolatry had come to be
associated with them that the Emperor Leo III.
declared himself resolutely opposed to their very
existence. In taking this position it is very proba-
ble that he had been influenced by the sect of the
Paulicians, which rose during the seventh century in
the northern part of Syria, near the birthplace of Leo
himself.

1 " Epistles of St. Gregory," bk. ix., Ep. 9.

The Paulicians. Z^

The Paulicians were a Christian sect professing a
form of dualism, and having perhaps some early re-
lation with Manichean doctrines. They looked upon
creation as the work of the evil principle, and re-
garded as evil all material forms, including the human
body. Their opposition to the prevalent Christianity
was directed most strongly against the cult which was
growing up around the Virgin Mary and the cross.
It is well known that Leo's opposition to Mariolatry
was a prominent feature in his attempt at reform, and
that he gave to the Paulicians letters of protection.

It is still more probable, however, that he was
more strongly influenced by the taunts of Jews and
Mahometans, who declared openly that the Christians
were no better than pagans and idolaters in their mul-
tipHcation of the objects of worship, and in their rep-
resentation of those objects in material forms and
images. It might seem, also, that image-worship was
one great hindrance to their conversion, which, at
least in the case of the Jews, Leo tried so hard to
accomplish.

The position of the Christian church was, indeed,
in marked contrast with those sublime words in the
" Octavius " of Minucius Felix, so that the conditions
of the third century and those of the eighth seem to
be exactly reversed.

Caecilius, the opponent of Christianity in the third
century, thus taunts the Christians : " For why do
they endeavor, with such pains, to conceal and to
cloak what they worship, since honorable things al-
ways rejoice in publicity, while crimes are kept secret?
Why have they no altars, no temples, no consecrated

84 The Age of Ckarlejnagne,

images?" Octavius, the apologist of Christianity,
gives a most eloquent paraphrase of the forty-fourth
chapter of Isaiah, and thus answers the slurs of
Caecilius : '' But do you think we conceal what we
worship, if we have not temples and altars ? And yet
what image of God shall I make, since, if you think
rightly, man himself is the image of God ? . . . Were
it not better that he should be dedicated in our mind,
consecrated in our heart? . . . Therefore, he who
cultivates innocence suppHcates God; he who culti-
vates justice makes offerings to God ; he who abstains
from fraudulent practices propitiates God ; he who
snatches man from danger slaughters the most ac-
ceptable victim. These are our sacrifices, these are
our rites of God's worship ; thus, among us, he who
is most just is he who is most religious. But certainly
the God whom we worship we neither show nor see.
Verily for this reason we believe him to be God : that
we can be conscious of him, but cannot see him ; . . .
for from where is God afar off, when all things hea-
venly and earthly, and which are beyond the province
of the universe, are known to God, are full of God?
Everywhere he is not only very near us, but he is
infused into us. . . . Not only do we act in him, but
also, I had almost said, we live in him." ^

Leo seems to have been influenced especially by a
Phrygian bishop named Constantine, and by a certain
Beser, a renegade and convert from Mahometanism,
who stood high in the imperial favor. His position
had a theological side as well, and thus connected
itself with the disputes regarding Monophysitism

1 " Ante-Nicene Fathers," Amer. ed., vol. iv., pp. 178, 187, 193.

Emperor Leds Rationalism. 85

and Monothelitism, which had rent the church and
distracted the empire during the preceding two
or three centuries. '' The MonotheUtism of the
seventh century was a connecting-link between
Monophysitism and Iconoclasm, but there were two
new influences which affected the eighth-century
movement and gave it a pecuHar character, namely,
the Pauhcian doctrines and the Mahometan re-
ligion." ^

Alzog, or his translators, while admitting the abuse
of images, may tell us that " the true solution of the
whole difficulty, and the motives which prompted im-
perial action, are to be sought in the meddlesomeness
of those emperors who, like their predecessors in re-
gard to the earlier dogmatic controversies, were always
interfering in ecclesiastical legislation."- The justi-
fication of their action, however, appears when we
consider how closely united were the two institutions
of church and state, and how seriously the integrity
of the empire was threatened by any schism or strife
or weakness in the church. Furthermore, Leo was
actuated undoubtedly by a spirit of general opposi-
tion and reaction against the gross materialism and
grovelling superstition which he saw all about him,
and which was brought out in bold relief by the strik-
ing contrast to Christianity afforded by both Judaism
and Mahometanism in these respects. The use of
pictures and statues in the churches was only one form
against which this rationalistic spirit showed itself.
The opposition was connected with the question of art

1 Bury, vol. ii., p. 429.

2 Alzog, vol. ii., p. 208, note i.

86 The Age of Charlemagne,

only remotely, if at all. The earlier representations
were crude and ugly — indeed, the ugliest having
proved in all religions the object of the greatest de-
votion, as is shown by the image of Diana in the
temple of Ephesus. The early pictures of the Virgin
and the Christ represented neither the gracious mo-
therhood of the one nor the tender humility of the
other. It was only by the outward symbols of dress,
conventional forms and signs, the aureola, the halo,
and the nimbus, that the different personages of
Christian veneration and worship could be recognized.
In the early pictures of the holy family any female
figure would do for the Virgin and any child for the
Christ, if the conventional symbols of divinity were
present. It was only when higher conceptions arose
and real art began that religious painting became
truly inspiring, and painters like Raphael and Michael
Angelo sought to depict the divine by the noblest and
highest human beauty. In the earlier times, how-
ever, it was in the East, where the old art instinct had
not completely died out, that pictures and statues
were most numerous, while the West, where the
artistic sense remained yet undeveloped, was devoted
to relics.^

The famous edict of Leo III., issued in 726, began
the controversy which shook the very foundations of
the church and of the empire, and lasted for over a
century and a quarter. That edict, sometimes mis-
takenly supposed to have been merely an order to

1 To-day the Eastern Church allows only paintings and mosaics,
excluding statues and sculptures, which are more in use in the Roman
Church, though she allows both.

The Edict 0/^26, 87

raise the pictures out of the reach of the kisses and
other acts of worship of the people, decreed the com-
plete removal of all pictures from the churches
throughout the empire.^

Yet this was the same Leo whose glorious victory
over the Mahometans in 718 had saved eastern Eu-
rope from the Saracen yoke, rescued Christianity from
the danger of complete annihilation, and, by stopping
the waves of Mahometan invasion at the foot of the
Taurus, had accomplished for the East what Charles
Martel did for the West a few years afterwards on the
field of Poitiers, when he stopped the Mahometans
from advance beyond the Pyrenees. The first act
under the edict of the emperor was the destruction
of a most popular and deeply revered image of Christ
over the gate of the imperial palace. This aroused a
storm of opposition, and called forth the angry pro-
tests of the Pope. In 730 Leo deposed Germanus,
the Patriarch of Constantinople, and put in his place
the patriarch's secretary, Anastasius, who favored the
imperial policy, and soon after issued a manifesto
against images, thus giving ecclesiastical authority to
the edict of the emperor.

This attack on the venerated symbols and objects
of adoration roused Pope Gregory to action, and al-
though the two letters which have come down to us

1 "Lib. Pont.," vol. i., p. 404, c. 17; Paulus Diaconus, bk. vi.,
c. 49 ; Theophanes, " Chronographia," p. 338. Mentioned by Grego-
rovius, vol. ii., p. 225, See also Bury, vol. ii., p. 432 and note 4;
p. 436, note I.

Hefele, vol. v., pp. 260-400.

" The edicts on image-worship are collected in Goldastus, ' Impe-
rialia Decreta de Cultu Imaginum,' ed. Francof., 1608." (Hardwick,
" Middle Age," p. 73, note i.)

88 The Age of Charlemagne,

as written by the Pope to Leo must be regarded as
the fabrication of a later age, he stoutly opposed the
enforcement of the decrees in Italy.^

Already, however, the relations on all sides had be-
come severely strained. The weakness of the exarchs,
the imperial officers at Ravenna, their greed and
tyranny, had tended more and more surely to drive
the Italian people to the care and protection of the
Pope, leading them to see in him not only a bulwark
against heresy and schism in the church, but also a
defender of their civil Hberties and the true preserver
of their political unity.

The immediate occasion of their revolt seems to
have been an imperial order to the exarch, who pro-
ceeded to levy a new tax on the provinces of Italy
and to confiscate some church property. This was
opposed by the Pope, and his opposition was sup-
ported quite generally throughout Italy. Plots were
set on foot against the life of the Pope, and bitter
strife ensued.

The Lombards, thinking doubtless to foment dis-
cord and increase the weakness of resistance, took
advantage of the occasion to invade the Pentapolis.
Just at this juncture, 727, the iconoclastic edicts of
the emperor appeared in Italy. Gregory at once de-
nounced the imperial heresy, and urged all to be on
their guard and not to destroy the images. This in-
creased the popular resistance to the imperial power

1 The genuineness of these letters is doubted by Hodgkin, vol. vi.,
pp. 501-505 ; Dollinger, " Fables," etc., pp. 253-261 ; and Duchesne,
" Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 418, note 43. Hefele still holds to their
genuineness (" History of Councils," vol. v., pp. 289-298).

Threatened Revolt. 89

and the opposition to the exarch. ** Scorning to yield
obedience to his orders, they elected dukes for
themselves in every part of Italy, and thus they
all provided for their own safety and that of the
pontiff."!

The revolt, we are told, went so far that the design
was formed of electing a new emperor in Italy ; but
Gregory made every effort to prevent this, and ex-
horted them to maintain their allegiance to the Roman
empire of the East.^

DoUinger asserts, however, that " after the year
728 the Pope did make an attempt to form a confed-
eration of states, which was to maintain itself inde-
pendently alike of the Greeks and of the Lombards ;
the head and central point of it was to be the papal
chair." ^ But the plan came to nothing, though the
idea remained to bear fruit in the " Donation of Con-
stantine." The Papacy soon realized that the time
had not come to throw off the power of the emperor
or to attempt any new scheme of political autonomy.
The threatening attitude of the Lombards clearly
showed that the breakdown of the imperial power in
Italy, weak as it was, would bring about a universal
Lombard dominion, in which the Papacy would be
completely swallowed up. True, the Pope might
look to the Franks ; but Charles Martel was overbur-
dened with wars in his own dominions, and the Lom-
bard king was his strong and faithful ally. Nothing

1 " Liber Pontificalis," vol. i., p. 404, c. 17. Quoted by Hodgkin,
vol. vi., pp. 449, 450.

2 Paulus Diaconus, " De Gestis Langob.," bk. vi., c. 49; " Liber
Pontificalis," vol. i., pp. 404, 405, c. 18.

3 DoUinger, "Fables," p. 121.

90 The Age of Charlemagne.

remained, therefore, at present for the Pope but to
use all his influence on the side of the emperor against
the Lombard, for submission to a distant emperor was
far better than subjection to a strong and ever-pres-
ent Lombard king.

CHAPTER XL

ITALY AND THE PAPACY — THE OSTROGOTHIC
KINGDOM — THE LOMBARDS — LIUTPRAND AND
GREGORY II.

HE division of the empire into east and
west after the death of Theodosius, in
395, was the beginning of the end of any
real imperial power in the West. Prov-
ince after province fell a prey to the in-
cursions of the northern tribes, and Italy itself,
devastated and depopulated by war and famine, was
overrun by foreign invaders.

In 476 the farce of a separate emperor, who had
become a mere figurehead, the creature of some suc-
cessful barbarian commander, was discontinued, and
the name of emperor ceased among the people of the
West, while the Rugian Odoacer ruled at Ravenna
as patrician, and received, in submission to the one
emperor at Constantinople, the government of the
Italians.

Misunderstandings soon sprang up, however, and,
either at his own request or by imperial command,
Theodoric, the leader of the Ostrogoths, who still
lingered near the Eastern capital, marched with his

91

92 The Age of Charlemagne.

Goths against Italy and overthrew Odoacer. In 493
the struggle ended, and Theodoric proclaimed him-
self King of the Romans and Goths, although he still
acknowledged the supremacy of the emperor. As the
ruler of Italy, in spite of the violence and treachery
which stained the beginning and the end of his reign,
" he restored," says Gibbon, " an age of peace and
prosperity," ^ and, says Machiavelli, " brought the
country to such a state of greatness that her sufferings
were no longer recognizable."^

Whether this be an overestimate or not of the
great work of Theodoric, the Ostrogothic kingdom
was not destined to last long beyond the lifetime of
its founder.

Theodoric was an alien, unable to win the sympathy
and support of the people ; an Arian, exposed to the
bitter opposition of the church, and without any re-
ligious organization or centralized system to uphold
him; the object, before long, of the fear and jealousy
of the emperor — three insurmountable obstacles to
a permanent success, and presenting a most instruc-
tive contrast with his contemporary, Clovis, King of
the Franks.

Theodoric died in 526, and his kingdom was
drowned in the seas of its own blood. Under the
great Justinian, the famous generals Belisarius and
Narses endeavored to win back the territory which
was slipping from the imperial grasp, and by a series
of struggles, lasting from 536 until 552, restored Italy
to the empire. The imperial rule was now established

1 Gibbon, chap. xxxv.

2 Machiavelli, " History of Florence," bk. i., chap, ii.

Growth of the Papal Power, 93

as an exarchate, with the seat of power at Ravenna.
But with the overthrow of the Ostrogothic kingdom
came the ruin and decay of the Rome and Italy of
antiquity, and to the glories of Theodoric's short
reign succeeded the devastation and confusion of the
two centuries of Lombard anarchy.

In Rome, however, a new power had been grow-
ing up, which was to impart a greater glory than her
ancient lustre to the city of the ages, and make her
once more the mistress of the world, with a wider and
more absolute sway than she had ever known before.

The gradual rise of the Church of Rome to the chief
position among the churches of the Christian world,
and the consequently greatly increased importance
of the Bishop of Rome, has been traced already, and
attention has been called to the process by which that
supremacy was gradually removed from the founda-
tions of historic development, ecclesiastical expedi-
ency, and actual service to what seemed the surer
foundation of divine order and command. Though
the Bishop of Rome might owe his power, as has
been shown, to the movements and developments of
history, he claimed henceforth to deduce his title to
supremacy from St. Peter as '' Prince of the Apostles,"
and as '' first Bishop of Rome," from whom, in a di-
rect and unbroken line of succession, he traced at once
his position and authority.

While this ecclesiastical power continued to grow
and to spread, the Papacy began also to take on a
new form and significance, owing partly to its close
connections with the civil power and to what it had
learned therefrom, and partly, and perhaps chiefly,

94 The Age of Charlemagne.

to the exigencies of events. In other words, we have
to note the beginnings of its temporal power and
possessions, which brought it into new relations and
held out before it new possibilities and ambitions.

The political life of Rome closed with the overthrow
of the Goths, who for a while upheld the institutions
and seemed about to restore the ancient glories of the
state. With the fall of Theodoric and the reconquest
of Italy by the emperor, the last shadow of indepen-
dent political life passed away, and the national spirit
and consciousness seemed to have lost its centre and
rallying-point. But as the civil and political glory of
Rome grew dim and faded away, the ecclesiastical
preeminence of the Papacy emerged strong and vig-
orous, prepared to hold together the remnant of the
Western Empire in a moral union capable of surviving
the shock of political dissolution, and to preserve the
treasure of the traditions, law, order, language, and
culture, and, indeed, the very spirit, of ancient Rome.
The empire was torn to pieces, and Rome herself had
fallen before the hordes of barbarians which poured
like tempestuous floods over her tottering walls ; but
the Church of Rome overawed and conquered the
conquerors of Rome, Christianized, civilized, and dis-
armed them, transforming them from destroying foes
into submissive children. More than all this, the
church, the Papacy, took the place of the ancient
state and senate of Rome, and became the centre of
the energy and national spirit of the people. Further
attacks and threatening dangers only intensified this
feeling and increased the vigor of the papal activity.
Amid the incessant change and confusion, the Papacy

The Lombard hivasion. 95

alone was permanent and enduring, at once a centre
of unity and a refuge from anarchy, to the evident
advantage of its temporal as well as its ecclesiastical
authority. The manner and method of the election
of the Pope tended to secure popular support and to
preserve confidence. The clergy, the army, and the
people, the three orders in Rome, took part in the
papal election as three distinct bodies, although the
necessity of confirmation by the emperor, or by his
representative, the exarch at Ravenna, gave oppor-
tunity for the exercise of a strong imperial influence.
This influence made itself felt also in the fact, first
appearing in the year 535, that the Pope was required
to be represented by an apocrisiarius, or permanent
ambassador, not only at Ravenna with the exarch,
but also at Constantinople with the emperor, the sig-
nificance of which is seen in the fact that the position
at Constantinople was usually a stepping-stone to the
Papacy itself.

It has been well said that the preservation of Rome
seems a law of history ; and the last great danger of
all, which we are now to consider, the Lombard in-
vasion, furnishes only another confirmation of its
truth. As some great storm descending from the
north, wrapping all in mist and darkness, out of which
the crashing of thunder and the fall of rain are heard,
and the flashing of lightning and the rush of storm-
clouds are seen, till finally, clearing away, the strong
and deeply founded houses appear still standing, while
barns and sheds are overthrown and swept away, so
did the Lombard hosts reveal the strong and sweep
away the weak, and when their power passed away

g6 The Age of Charlemag7ie.

it left the Papacy strong, independent, and free from
the East forever.

The Langobards, as they were called, had their
original home on the banks of the Elbe, and were a
strong and cruel people. Moving southward, they
established their first kingdom, during the early part
of the sixth century, on the banks of the Upper
Danube. So far as they were Christians, they, like
the other converted German tribes, held the Arian
faith, which had been spread among them by Ulfilas
and the other Gothic missionaries. As they drew
toward the south their name was softened into ^' Lom-
bards," but this was not attended with any correspond-
ing softening of character and disposition. They had
been kept back from Italy by the strength of the Os-
trogothic kingdom, but after its overthrow and the
death of Justinian there was no further check to
their advance. Invited, it is said, to the invasion
of Italy by the general Narses, in revenge for what
seemed to him his disgraceful recall to Constanti-
nople, they made themselves masters of Italy under
their leader Alboin. One after another the cities
fell under the sword of the barbarian, and the old
civihzation was speedily displaced. While the Goths
had protected Latin civilization, the Lombards de-
stroyed it. In 572 they fixed the seat of their
power in Theodoric's old capital of Pavia, and soon
their dominion spread over all Italy, with the ex-
ception of the exarchate of Ravenna, the district of
the Pentapolis, and the duchies of Rome and Naples.
The valley of the Po, since called Lombardy, formed
the centre of their power, the whole territory being

Gregory the Great. 97

divided into thirty-six duchies, the chief of which
were FriuH, Beneventum, and Spoleto. Rome, in
dire dismay, sent a solemn deputation of senators and
priests, with rich gifts of money, to suppHcate the
emperor for aid. But the Persian attacks on the east,
the Slavs on the Danube, as well as civil dissensions,
required all his attention and miHtary force, though
he did send a small body of troops to Ravenna and
advised the Romans to use the gold they had brought
to him to buy off the Lombards.

The civil rulers at Rome were a duke and a master
of the knights, but often they were absent or the
offices vacant. The exarch at Ravenna, far from
being able to render any aid, was greatly in need of
help for himself. In this moment of supreme neces-
sity the kingdom of the Franks, rising, under Clovis,
on the ruins of the empire in Gaul, shone like a light
in a dark place, and seemed to show the way to pro-
tection and safety. Their conversion to the Catho-
hc instead of the Arian form of Christianity seemed
a mark of the direct interposition of Providence, and
led Pelagius II. to declare that he '' believed that
they had been divinely raised up to save Rome."
But the time had not yet come for their active inter-
position. Not by arms, but by the majesty of the
Roman name and the awe inspired by Gregory the
Great, who became Bishop of Rome in 590, was the
city to be saved from the Lombards. Once more
Rome owed her preservation to the courage and
moral influence of the bishop of her church. Even
more than this she owed to Gregory, rightly called
the Great, for great he was alike in Christian virtues

G

98 The Age of Charle^nagne.

and in far-seeing statesmanship. To his preeminent
power and skill were due undoubtedly the freeing
of Rome from the Lombards and the rapid growth
of the Roman see to the supremacy of the West.
His first sermon at Rome reads almost Hke her fu-
neral oration, so weighed down were men's minds with
the ruin of the empire. In him, however, she was
destined to behold in a great degree her restorer.

Milman has ably presented him to us, first, as a
Christian bishop, organizing and completing the rit-
ual and offices of the church, and as administrator of
the patrimony of the Roman see and its distributor
to its various pious uses ; secondly, as the Patriarch
of the West, exercising authority over the clergy and
churches in Italy, in Gaul, and in other parts of
Europe, as the converter of the Lombards from
Arianism and of the Saxons of Britain from heathen-
ism, and in his conduct to pagans, Jews, and heretics,
as maintaining the independence of the Western
ecclesiastical power against the East ; thirdly, as the
virtual sovereign of Rome, a position which he was
almost compelled to assume as guardian of the city
and protector of the Roman people against the Lom-
bards, owing to the neglect or powerlessness of their
natural defenders.^ As such there is little to be
added to the presentation there given.

Such popes as Innocent L, Leo I., and Gregory I.
show the true foundation of the Papacy, and when
and how the Church of Rome gained her ecclesias-
tical supremacy. Indeed, Gregory's influence far
outweighed the power of the imperial officers, for
1 Milman, bk. iii., chap. vii.

Extension of the Papal Power, 99

the Romans reverenced as their master and preserver
a bishop who united in his person the episcopal dig-
nity and the renown of illustrious descent.

Already the property of the Church of Rome had
reached a wide extent, both within the city and on
the banks of the Tiber in each direction. The church
had become the possessor also of the Roman Cam-
pagna, thus ruling over wide-spread districts in Lati-
um, Sabinum, and Tuscany, as also in the most distant
provinces of Italy. ^

Slowly but surely the development proceeded.
Pope after pope enriched the city with the choicest
products of architecture, painting, and sculpture, and
strengthened the papal influence within and beyond
the city. The strife between the Lombard king and
the imperial exarch still continued, but the emperors,
more and more occupied with the defence of the
empire in the East, were forced to leave to the popes
the defence of the Roman possessions.

Steadily the papal power grew, until it extended
far down into southern Italy and embraced several
dukedoms of the peninsula. In the eighth century
the missionary labors of Boniface carried the influ-
ence of the Pope into the wilds of Germany and es-
tablished the papal system and control over the new
churches of the North, and laid the foundations of
that great international federation of the West which
was destined to take the place and continue the work
of the old Roman empire.

The attacks of the Mahometans, and the protests
of the emperors against the use of images, while

1 Gregorovius, vol. ii., pp. 59-61.

lOO The Age of Charlemagne.

threatening complete disruption, resulted only in es-
tablishing the military prestige and greater unity of
the Franks, on the one hand, and, on the other,
showed that the Roman Church had already devel-
oped as an independent power, in which was concen-
trated the spirit of the West.

Just at this time, as we have already seen, Liut-
prand, the greatest of the Lombard kings, attempted
to take advantage of the confused state of affairs in
order to forward the scheme of Lombard aggrandize-
ment and to reahze his dream of a united Italy under
Lombard domination. Once more the Bishop of
Rome prevented such a result. In the midst of his
victories the king was induced to retreat and to give
up Sutri to the Pope, the first instance of the be-
stowal of a city upon the church.^ This was in 728.
The struggle was now approaching its last stage, and
one almost breathes a sigh at the voluntarily relin-
quished hopes and plans of the mighty Liutprand.

Renewed attacks upon Rome itself were averted
once again by the reenactment of the religious drama
of which the popes were so fond, and in which frequent
rehearsals had given them such great proficiency.
" The priestly magician," says Gregorovius, *' led the
disarmed enemy to the apostles' grave, and the pious
monarch laid aside his regal mantle, his sword, his
very crown, together with his ambitious hopes, at
the grave of the dead."

1 Gregorovius, vol. ii., pp. 236, 237 and note.

CHAPTER XII.

GREGORY III. — THE LOMBARDS AND THE FRANKS —
BONIFACE AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
FRANKISH CHURCH — EARLY SYNODS — RELA-
TIONS WITH ROME.

REGORY 11. died in 731, and the real
danger from the Lombards became in-
creasingly apparent under his successor,
Gregory III. Already, as we have seen,
Charles Martel, through his connection
with Boniface, had come into relations with the
Roman see, and these relations the Pope carefully
fostered and encouraged, so that now, in his ex-
tremity, it was natural that he should turn his atten-
tion to the rising power of the Franks, who had
always been the defenders of orthodoxy, the propa-
gators of Christianity, and the allies of the church.
Furthermore, the great victory on the plains of Poi-
tiers had spread the glory of the might of Charles
Martel, and had shown the Pope what a mighty
weapon of defence lay just within his reach. Charles,
however, was still busy with the Arabs and with
putting down the revolts which their invasions had
excited ; nor did he wish, even if it were possible, to

I02 The Age of Charlemagne.

break with Liutprand, who had aided him against
the Mahometans, had declared himself the adopted
father of the young Prankish prince, and had re-
ceived into his court Charles's second son. Pippin, in
acknowledgment of the alliance. Three times in
739 and 740 Gregory made the most frantic appeals
for help : '* Do not despise my prayer, nor shut your
ears to my pleading, and then the chief of the apos-
tles will not shut the kingdom of heaven against you.
I adjure you by the living and true God, and the
most holy keys of the sepulchre of the blessed Peter,
which we have sent to you, that you do not prefer
the friendship of the kings of the Lombards to the
love of the chief of the apostles, but that quickly and
without delay we may receive your aid, after God,
for our defence ; that among all nations your faith
and good name may be declared, that we also
may say with the prophet, * The Lord hear thee in
the day of trouble ; and the name of the God of
Jacob defend thee'" (Ps. xx. 1).^ The letter, so
the chronicler records, was ** sent by the decree of the
Roman princes, for that the Roman people wished
to leave the rule of the emperor and to commend
themselves to his aid and unexcelled clemency."^
But there is no trace of this last idea in any of the
extant letters.

What the result might have been cannot now be
known, for that same year (741) died Charles Mar-
tel. Pope Gregory III., and the Emperor Leo III.,
while Liutprand died in 744.

1 Jaff^, vol. iv., pp. 17, 18, Ep. 2.

2 " Ann. Met.," an. 741 ; " M. G. SS.," vol. i., p. 326.

Karlmann and Pippin, 103

The imperial policy was continued by Leo's son,
Constantine V., who summoned, in 754, what he
called the Seventh General Council at Constantino-
ple, at which severe decrees were passed against
images and image- worship.

The Merovingian king, Theodoric IV., died in 737,
and no successor had been appointed, so that for the
last four years of his life Charles had governed in his
own name. By the consent of his chief men, just
before his death, he divided his dominion between
his two sons. To Karlmann, his eldest son, he gave
Austrasia,Thuringia, and Swabia (or Alemannia), and
to his younger son. Pippin, he gave Neustria, Bur-
gundy, and Provence. He is said to have given
parts out of both these divisions to a third son,
Grifo, a half-brother to Karlmann and Pippin, but
the two older brothers refused to acknowledge his
claims and united their forces against any and all
attacks. This union enabled them to avoid the dan-
gers which the division of the kingdom by Charies
Martel had threatened. They were, however, forced
to revive the fiction of a king, and to place a Mero-
vingian on the throne, who played the part of a mere
figurehead, under the name of Childenc III., while
they kept all the real power in their own hands.

Boniface and the church exercised a stronger in-
fluence over the two brothers than had been possible
in the case of their resolute and warlike father. At
the very beginning of his accession to power, Karl-
mann summoned Boniface and requested him to as-
semble a synod for the reform of the condition of
the Christian religion and the regulation of ecclesias-

I04 The Age of Charlemagne.

tical affairs. The synod met in April, 742, and was
the first, Boniface wrote to Pope Zacharias, that had
been held in that part of the Prankish kingdom for
sixty or seventy years. ^ Indeed, they had been
growing less frequent in the rest of the Prankish
church. Pifty-four had been held in Gaul in the
sixth century, twenty in the seventh, and only seven
in the first part of the eighth. The place of meeting
of this synod is unknown, but Waitz speaks of it as
the first to be held on German soil, and it is de-
scribed in the collections as the first German synod.
Karlmann himself summoned it, and apparently di-
rected its actions.- Boniface and six other bishops,
— of Wiirzburg in Pranconia, of Buraburg in Hesse,
of Utrecht in Priesia, of Eichstadt in Bavaria, and of
Cologne and Strasburg in Austrasia, — with their
presbyters, were present, together with the secular
nobles. The acts of the synod are of great interest
and importance. Bishops were established in the
cities, under Boniface as archbishop and legate
{jnissns) of St. Peter. Annual synods were ordered
to be held. Church property was to be restored, and
discipline administered to presbyters, deacons, and
all clerics. The clergy were forbidden to fight, to
bear arms, or to be present in the army except for
divine service. Each presbyter was to be subject to

1 JafT6, vol. iii., Bonif. Ep. 42;

2 " I, Karlmann, leader and chief [diix et princeps] of the Franks,
. . . with the counsel of the servants of God and of my nobles, have
summoned the bishops who are in my kingdom, with the presbyters,
to a council and a synod, in the fear of Christ, that they might give
me counsel in what way the law of God and the ecclesiastical religion
may be revived." (lioretius, vol. i., p. 24; " Karlmanni Principis
Capitulare.")

The Second German Synod. 105

the bishop of the diocese, and in Lent of each year
was to furnish and show to the bishop the proof and
order {i-ationem et ordineni) of his ministry. The
bishop was to take care to banish all pagan practices
from his diocese. The rule of St. Benedict was to
be observed in all monasteries and convents. False
presbyters and clergy of evil life were to be deposed,
and all church property taken by fraud was to be
restored. A second council was held the next year,
in March, at Liptinae, or Lestinnes, now Estinnes, in
Belgium, at which the decrees of the first synod were
confirmed and their observance promised by clergy
and laity of every rank. Evil living among the
clergy, monks, and nuns was condemned again with
great severity, and incestuous marriages forbidden
in accordance with the canons. A fine of fifteen
shillings was to be levied for any reviv^al of pagan
customs. But by far the most important action at
this synod was that taken regarding church property.
It had been found impossible to enforce the edict of
the first council calling for the absolute surrender of
confiscated church property. Karlmann, therefore,
on account of the continued warfare and the neces-
sary support of a large army, proposed to retain for
a while longer the church lands which had been
granted out in benefice. It was agreed, however,
that each estate should pay to the church or monas-
tery thus deprived of its lands, and that when the
holder of the property died it should revert to the
church unless it became necessary to make a new
grant. If, on the other hand, the church should be
rendered thereby poor and in absolute want, the

io6 The Age of Charlemagne.

entire possession should be restored to it. Pope
Zacharias, writing to Boniface, thanks God that he
was able to get as much as this. The church's
ownership was acknowledged, and a yearly remit-
tance from each individual holding would be a source
of income and a continual acknowledgment of eccle-
siastical right and title. Following this council,
Boniface, as archbishop and legate of the Pope, con-
secrated three new bishops, in Rouen, Rheims, and
Sens. The latter was vacant, but the other two
were held nominally by men of the very class the
recent councils and the reform movement of Boniface
had tried to eradicate ; for the Bishop of Rouen was
a soldier, and the Bishop of Rheims a usurper, at-
tempting to hold Rheims together with the bish-
opric of Treves. The latter made a stubborn
resistance which lasted for ten years, and was
brought to a conclusion only in consequence of the
death of the bishop, who was killed by a wild boar
while hunting. Ecclesiastical reform found much
opposition in both state and church.

Pippin held his council in his own territory at
Soissons, in March, 744, the year following the synods
held by his brother. Twenty-three bishops were
present. The decrees were drawn up as capitularies
of Prince Pippin " with the consent of the bishops,
priests, and servants of God, and with counsel of the
counts and chiefs of the Franks." The creed of the
Council of Nicasa was affirmed. Synods were ordered
to be held each year. Condemnation was pro-
nounced upon a heretic, Adelbert by name, who had
been drawing the people away from the established

Tzvo Archbishoprics. 107

worship, forbidding pilgrimages to Rome, and receiv-
ing for himself the honor and veneration due to St.
Peter and his successors. Boniface regarded him as
the dangerous founder of a new sect, but Neander
sees in him an early Protestant.^

Having thus established its orthodoxy, affirmatively
and negatively, the synod proceeded to decree the
establishment of " legitimate " bishops in the chief
cities, under two archbishops, one at Sens and the
other at Rheims. Presbyters were to obey and sup-
port their bishops, who were to see that the people
did not lapse into paganism nor indulge in heathen
practices. Even the morals of the laity were made
the subject of legislation, evil living and perjury were
expressly prohibited, and the support of the church
was commanded. Finally it was ordered that any
one transgressing the decrees of the synod should be
tried by the prince, the bishops, and the counts, and
fined according to his rank.

These synods were held from time to time, with
the active cooperation of Boniface, for the whole
Frankish kingdom, and had a very marked influence
on the organization of the church and its relations to
the state. They dealt far more largely with the
practical matters of order and discipline than with
theological questions and controversies, were attended
by both lay and clerical nobles, were summoned and
presided over by the king or ruler, and legislated on
matters of general morals as well as on secular affairs.
Thus they served to maintain a close and real inti-
macy between church and state, and to make more

1 Neander, vol. iii., pp. 56-60.

io8 The Age of Charlemagne,

effective the influence of religious ideals upon the
ruler and his court and nobles.

Soon after the holding of these early synods reviv-
ing and establishing the order and discipline of the
church, Boniface established himself at Mainz as
archbishop, with general supervision over the whole
of Germany east of the Rhine, Thus gradually was
built up and established the ecclesiastical hierarchy
of priests, bishops, archbishops, and metropolitans,
which, by the labors of Boniface, was brought into
closer relations of dependence upon Rome. In a
famous letter to Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury
from 741 to 759, urging upon him the holding of a
synod in England as they had just done in Germany,
Boniface wrote : ** Moreover, we have decreed in our
synod, and have professed our desire, to preserve the
Catholic faith and unity with and obedience to the
Roman Church, to be subject to St. Peter and his
vicar, to assemble a synod every year, to seek the
pall for our metropolitans from that see, and to fol-
low strictly all the requirements of St. Peter." ^

Naturally tlie authority which Boniface wielded
and the influence he exerted as archbishop and
metropolitan differed somewhat from the ordinary
archiepiscopal powers, but it is misleading to give
him the title of Primate of all Germany, or to con-
clude that he exercised archiepiscopal functions in
all parts of Germany. Indeed, he had desired, on
the death of the Bishop of Cologne in 744, that the
bishopric should be raised to an archbishopric and
conferred upon himself, in order that he might have

1 Jaff^-, vol. iii., Bonif. Ep. 63.

Boniface the Papal Legate, 109

the personal superintendence of his old mission among
the people of Friesland. Objection was made, how-
ever, by some of his opponents, and Gewillieb,
Bishop of Mainz, having been deposed at a synod in
745 for fighting and killing his father's slayer in bat-
tle, Mainz, as we have seen, was made an archbish-
opric and conferred upon Boniface. It was, therefore,
rather his special commission as legate or vicar of the
Pope that extended his powers into all parts of the
kingdom, and enabled him to do his great work of
spreading Christianity, and of unifying, organizing,
and establishing the Prankish church, and of laying
the foundations and starting the building of that
great superstructure, the church of Germany.

CHAPTER XIII.

KARLMANN AND PIPPIN, THE SONS OF CHARLES
MARTEL — KING CHILDERIC HI. — RETIREMENT
TO A MONASTERY OF KARLMANN, CHILDERIC,
AND RACHIS, KING OF THE LOMBARDS — COR-
ONATION OF PIPPIN AS KING OF THE FRANKS.

HE natural tendency of this spreading of
Christianity and of this development and
unifying of organization would be the
unification of the state; but for the ac-
complishment of this end a stronger
power than that of Boniface and a longer period than
that covered by his Hfe would be required.

The work of Boniface undoubtedly assisted greatly,
but it followed rather than preceded the Prankish arms.
Indeed, events at this very time were showing how
weak and easily thrown off were the ties which bound
together the various parts of the Prankish kingdom.
All had been at peace in 740; but on the death of
Charles Martel, in 741, rebellions sprang up among
the Saxons and the Alemannians, while Hunold, duke
of the Aquitanians, and Ottilo, duke of the Bavarians,
declared their independence. It was no longer a war

Rebellion after the Death of Charles. 1 1 1

of Christians against pagans, but an attempt to break
up the unity of the Prankish kingdom and to limit
the conquests of the Prankish leaders. Christians
were on one side as well as on the other. Indeed,
on one occasion a certain priest named Sergius, the
papal legate in Bavaria, met the Prankish army, and
in the name of St. Peter and the apostolic lord for-
bade the war, and called upon the Pranks to with-
draw from Bavaria. Pippin, however, declared that
neither St. Peter nor the apostolic lord had sent Ser-
gius on that mission. On the following day, after a
great victory, the priest, together with one of the
bishops, was captured and brought to Pippin, who
reminded him of his false commission from the Pope,
and declared that now he had proved that it was false,
because if St. Peter had felt that the cause of the
Franks was not just, he would not have aided them
in gaining the victory. '' Be assured now, however,"
he concluded, ** that by the intercession of the blessed
Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and by the judgment of
God, to which we do not hesitate to submit, Bavaria
and the Bavarians belong to the empire of the
Franks." ^

In the midst of the success in Bavaria came the
news that Hunold had crossed the Loire, taken
Chartres, and burned it together with its cathedral
church. Pippin immediately hastened to the defence
of Neustria, and Karlmann proceeded against the
Saxons, who had been foremost in aid to the Bava-
rians. War raged in all directions during the succeed-
ing years, marked by treachery and deceit on all
1 " Ann, Met.," an. 743 ; " M. G. SS.," vol. i., p. 328.

1 1 2 The Age of Charlemagne.

sides. In 744 Hunold, having deceived his brother
by false oaths, tore out his eyes and threw him into
prison. A few days afterwards he laid aside his
ducal crown, took the vows of a monk, and entered a
monastery, but whether from remorse or because in
the same year he had been forced to yield to the
Franks and take the oath of fealty to Pippin and
Karlmann, the chroniclers do not tell us. He left
the rule to his son Waifar. Karlmann, tired of the
treachery and continual uprisings of the Alemannians,
entered their territory and summoned their chiefs to
a conference at Cannstatt, where they were all seized
and put to death. This was in 746 ; in the following
year he also resigned his power into the hands of his
brother Pippin, and went to Rome. He built a mon-
astery on Mount Soracte, but afterwards retired to
Monte Cassino, where he died in 754. There has
always been a mystery surrounding his retirement,
and the chroniclers do little to explain it. One says
that he gave up the temporal kingdom for the sake
of the heavenly. 1 Einhart says that he had been
meditating the act for a long time ;- while we are told
rather suspiciously, in another place, that, urged by
divine love and desire for the heavenly country, he,
of his own free will (sponte), resigned his power and
commended his sons to his brother Pippin.^ *' The
spontaneous character of his abdication may be true
in his own case, but few thinking people will believe

1 " Ann. Laur. Min.," an. 747; " M. G. SS.," vol. i., p. 115.
'•i " Ann. Einhardi," an. 745 (error for 746) ; " M. G. SS.," vol. i.,
P- 135.

3 " Chron. Moiss.," an. 741-752; " M. G. SS.," vol. i., p.292.

Grifds Rebellion. 1 1 3

that it was unaccompanied by pressure in the case
of his sons, who, though he commended them to
Pippin, lost their inheritance and practically vanished
out of existence." ^

There was no more fighting that year. Pippin
occupied himself in establishing his power over the
whole realm, sending his nephews to a monastery to
follow their father's example. He treated his younger
brother Grifo with more consideration, released him
from the prison where he had been confined since the
death of his father, and gave into his charge several
counties and a large part of the royal domain. But
Grifo refused to be reconciled, put himself at the
head of a party of rebellious chiefs, and raised a re-
volt among the Saxons. Pippin pursued him, and
by the aid of the Friesians and the Slavs, enemies of
the Saxons, put down the revolt, exacted a tribute,
and forced many of them to be baptized. This was
a frequent method of spreading Christianity, and,
unfortunately, in the minds of these northern and
still pagan peoples the sacrament of baptism seemed
to them the symbol of their entrance into the king-
dom of the Franks rather than into the kingdom of
heaven, the sign of their subjection to the Carolin-
gian rather than to Christ, so that when renouncing
their subjection to the Franks in their frequent re-
volts they too often threw off at the same time their
Christian obligations, burned their churches, killed or
put to flight their clergy, and relapsed into paganism.

Driven from the Saxons, Grifo fled to Bavaria,
where, aided by Landfrid, duke of the Alemannians,

1 Mombert, " Charles the Great," p. 32.
H

1 14 The Age of Charle7nagne,

he dispossessed his nephew Tassilo, the son and heir
of the former duke, Ottilo, and got himself pro-
claimed duke of the Bavarians. Again the army of
Pippin entered Bavaria and forced submission. Tas-
silo was reinstated, and Grifo, again restored to
favor, was given the duchy of Maine, with twelve
counties in Neustria. He soon left his duchy, how-
ever, and joined Waifar, the duke of the Aquitanians
and the avowed enemy of the Franks. There Pippin
was content to leave him for a time.^

More important affairs were to be settled. Hav-
ing put down all open rebellion, united the kingdom
under a single rule, and, by the aid of Boniface, es-
tablished order in the church, settled its relations
with the secular power, put its property and posses-
sions on a satisfactory basis, reorganized its govern-
ment on a system of bishops and metropolitans, and
confirmed its union with the Church of Rome, he
sought to reap the reward and to enjoy the honor of
his labors, and to secure their benefits to his descen-
dants. For over a century the position of the Mero-
vingian kings had been that of a merely nominal
headship. While their power had been growing less
and less, that of the mayors of the palace had been
as steadily increasing. Charles Martel, by his vigor-
ous administration and brilliant victories, had brought
it to such a height that when, in 737, the king,
Theodoric IV., died, no attempt was made to place
another on the throne. Although the sons of Charles

I Two years afterwards, trying to make liis way to the Lombard
king, he was attacked by Theodwin, a Prankish count, who had been
stationed to guard tlie passes of the Alps, and both were slam. (" Ann.
Met.," an. 751.)

The Puppet Kmg, 1 1 5

had been forced by the jealousy of some of the
leading nobles to set up Childeric III., Pippin had
now raised the power of the mayors of the palace to
a supreme height, and the position of the king was
pitiable. " Nothing was left for the king," says
Einhard in his life of Charles the Great, " except to
sit on his throne, content with the mere name of
king, his flowing hair, long, waving beard ; and to
present the merest show of power, to listen to the
ambassadors from different countries, and to give
them at their departure the replies which he had been
taught or even ordered to say, as if they were the
expression of his own will ; while, in reality, besides
the useless name of king, and the precarious support
which the mayor of the palace furnished as he thought
fit, he possessed nothing else of his own, except a
single estate, and that yielding a very small revenue,
having a house and a small number of servants, who
obeyed his orders and ministered to his necessities.
Wherever he went he was carried in a cart drawn
by a yoke of oxen, driven by a ploughman in country
fashion ; thus he used to go to the palace, and thus
to the assembly of his people at its annual meeting
for promoting the welfare of the kingdom, and thus
he went home again. The administration of the
kingdom and the transaction and disposition of all
business connected with foreign or domestic affairs
devolved upon the mayor of the palace."^ This
was no new arrangement. One of the chroniclers,
in the year 692, describes a similar scene under
Pippin of Heristal, the father of Charles Martel :

\ Einhard, " Vita Karoli," c. i.

1 1 6 The Age of Charle^nagne,

"Each year, on the calends of March, a general
council of all the Franks was held according to the
custom of the ancients. At this council, out of rev-
erence for the name of King, and on account of his
own humility and clemency, Pippin ordered the
king whom he had set up to preside until the offer-
ings were received from all the nobles of the Franks,
the speeches made in behalf of the peace and de-
fence of the churches of God and of the orphans and
widows, a firm decree made against rape and arson,
the command given to the army that on whatever day
they received notice to march they should be ready to
go wherever he appointed, after which he sent the king
to a public estate, to be kept with honor and respect." ^
At the time of which we speak, however, even this
had passed away, and the name as well as the person
of the king seemed well-nigh forgotten. Only oc-
casionally does the year of his reign serve to fix a
date ; his presence in the assemblies is not noted, nor
does his authority appear in the capitularies. In all the
communications between the popes and the Franks,
not a ^single letter is addressed to the king, but to
the viceroy, or subregulus, as the mayor of the pal-
ace was called. Charles Martel and his sons had
already spoken of the kingdom as theirs (ineiim reg-
7mm, nostrum regimm) in their laws and official
documents.

Such a condition of affairs could not long endure.
The one who had the power should have the name
of king. But how could the change be effected?
The force of custom and a long line of succession in

1 " Ann. Met.," an. 692; " M. G. SS.," vol. i., p. 320.

Pippins Qicestion : the Popes Reply. 117

the same family since the times of Clovis, a period
of nearly three hundred years, exercised an influence
not easily dispelled. But a power had arisen, and
was already making itself felt in the Prankish king-
dom, which could counteract that influence, and by
its authority sanction that which ancient custom and
inheritance seemed to forbid. That was the Chris-
tian church, the authority of whose religious sanc-
tion might furnish just what was needed.

The act of Pippin in procuring his coronation was
not a usurpation nor a revolution ; these had already
taken place. Pippin's act was one of political neces-
sity, which had been so well and so long prepared
that it took place almost without being perceived.
Nor were the proper ceremonies and legal details
wanting. With the advice and consent of all the
Franks, Burchard, Bishop of Wiirzburg, a friend and
pupil of Boniface, and Fulrad, Abbot of St. Denis,
one of the principal ecclesiastics of Gaul, were sent
to the Pope, Zacharias. At Rome they met another
pupil and friend of Boniface, who had been despatched
with secret and confidential messages for the Pope.
These explained to him the insignificant position of
the Merovingian king, who, though of royal lineage,
had only the name of king, without any of the royal
powers and prerogatives, except the signing of grants
and charters. They asked if this were well or not.
The Pope replied, in virtue of his apostolic authority,
that it seemed to him to be better and more fitting
that he should be king and receive the royal title who
had the power in the kingdom rather than he who
falsely was called king. Therefore he sent back word

1 1 8 The Age of Charlemagne,

to the king and people of the Franks that Pippin,
who was exercising the royal power, should be called
king and placed upon the throne. This was the
authorization which had been desired. Accordingly,
in the next year, 751, by the election of the people,
having received the submission of the chiefs in ac-
cordance with the ancient custom of the Franks, Pip-
pin was raised to the throne in the city of Soissons,
and that he might be rendered more worthy of this
honor, he, with his queen, Bertrada, received the holy
anointing ; but Childeric, who was falsely called king,
had his head shaven and was sent to a monastery.
The long, flowing locks, symbol of royal dignity,
were cut away, and the tonsure, sign of the renuncia-
tion of worldly ambitions, took their place.^

Thus took place that act of most solemn and mo-
mentous significance to western Europe and to the
Christian church, as well as to the Frankish kingdom
and to the Roman Papacy. There is no need of trying
to justify the act ; its historical explanation lies in the
fact that it took place orderly and peaceably, as an
evident political necessity. Its manifest advantage
to all persons concerned except the poor last rem-
nant of the royal line, and, above all, the absolute
necessity, which the Pope had already felt and recog-
nized, of having some strong arm near at hand if
Rome was to be saved to the Papacy and the Papacy
to the Western Church, are plainly seen.

It was something more than a change of dynasty

^ 1 "Ann. Einhardi," an. 749, 750; "Ann. Laur.," an. 749, 750;
Ann. Lauriss. Min.," an. 750; " Fredegar. Cont.," c. 117; " Ann.
I'uld.," an. 751, 752.

Pippin King by the Grace of God. 1 1 9

or a political revolution, or even usurpation. It
effected a complete change in the very conception of
the kingship, opened a new epoch in the relations
between the ecclesiastical and the secular power, and
began a marked epoch in the history of the church
itself.

The Pope had waited for the imperial confirma-
tion of the ruler of the East before entering upon
his duties; he now found himself consecrating the
new ruler of the West, that he might authoritatively
perform his duties. The Pope had been seeking the
assistance of this new power which had arisen in the
West; he now found it seeking him. The kings of
the Franks had ruled before by right of royal birth
and national custom and support; they were now
kings by the grace of God, expressed by the part
which the bishops of the church took in the election,
by the anointing in the name of the head of the
church at Rome. By this act the king was invested
with a divine significance, he was made a part of the
ecclesiastical order, and the union of the Prankish
monarch with the ecclesiastical head of the Western
Church was complete.

The Pope had now received the submission and
resignation of two kings ; for Rachis, Liutprand's
successor as king of the Lombards, having once more
renewed the contest and besieged Perugia, had met
the Pope, and had come within the magic circle of
that influence so majestic and awe-filling that it
seemed almost divine, and he had not only given up
the contest and restored the places already taken, but
had laid his crown at the feet of the successor of the

1 20 The Age of Charlemagne.

Prince of the Apostles, and had retired humbly and
devoutly to the monastery of Monte Cassino.

And now the Pope had been asked to exercise
again that mighty spiritual authority which he held
as head of the Church of Rome and as the chief re-
ligious authority of his time, whose source no man
questioned and whose limit no man knew, to sanc-
tion the overthrow of a royal house which had held
its sway for nearly three centuries, and to estabhsh
another line by a new ceremony and with a new
meaning. " Already here in the eighth century is
the whole future of the middle ages pictured forth in
miniature." ^ It is to be noted that it was not by his
own seeking that there came to the Pope that mighty
power of deposing and setting up kings. It was
given, yes, almost forced upon him, and the founda-
tions laid for that lofty height on which Innocent
III. stood, with kings and kingdoms and the empire
at his feet, when it was said to him :

" Not God thou art, nor man, neither and yet between.
Whom God himself has made his partner and ally.
Sharing with thee the universal sway,
Desiring not alone to govern all,
But giving earth to thee, reserving heaven to himself. "2

The anointing was not an absolutely new ceremony
in the West. It had been used for the first time in
the later monarchy of the Visigoths, after the con-
version of Recarred, when the church became quite

1 Hegel, vol. i., p. 208.

2 Translated from a poem of the thirteenth century, written by
Geoffrey Vinsauf. Quoted by Lea, " Studies in Church History,"
P- 387.

Had Clovis been Anointed? 1 2 1

powerful in Spain.^ It had been introduced into
England also, though the exact date is uncertain.
This was its first appearance, however, among the
Franks. Clovis had been baptized, it is true, by
Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, and his people had fol-
lowed his example ; but there does not appear to
have been any thought of an ecclesiastical anointing
of Clovis as king ; that is the addition of later legends.
Indeed, Clovis, who with difficulty, and only after
having been a king for over ten years, was brought
to baptism and the acceptance of the Christian faith,
and who wa_s already possessed of royal power, trac-
ing his right to his birth in a royal family descending
from the gods, would have been the last to assent to
it ; nor is there any evidence that his Merovingian
successors were made kings in any other way than
by the good old German custom of the shouts of the
people, the clash of arms, and the elevation on the
shield. As has been pointed out,^ the words on
which Lehuerou relied to prove a consecration of
Clovis are unquestionably the forgery of a later time.^
Furthermore, Lehuerou himself admits, on the very
next page, that it is in the official documents of the
early Carolingians that one meets for the first time
the grand formula, ''king by the grace of God." In
truth, this act of raising Pippin to the Frankish throne
set aside the claims of a pagan right divine, based on
a lineage derived from the gods, and substituted for
it a Christian right divine, based on the authority of

1 Probably also in the case of Wamba, the Visigothic king, in 672.
(Alzog, vol. ii., p. 127, note 3.)

2 Waitz, vol. iii., p. 64, note 2. 3 Lehuerou, pp. 328, 329.

122 The Age of Charlemagne.

the church and on the consecration at her hands.
Thus the church by her authority released the Franks
from their oath of allegiance to the royal family of
their ancient kings, and conferred upon Pippin that
which was lacking in the hereditary right of birth in
the royal family. This consideration ought to go far
towards settling that vexed question on which so
many volumes have been written, — whether the Pope
made Pippin king, — and it shows just what was
effected by papal authority.

Thus Pippin was crowned king, and the allegiance
of the Franks, by the authority of the Pope, was
transferred to him. Their chief was well chosen.
Pippin was brave, resolute, and almost always victo-
rious. This is well illustrated by a story that on one
occasion a furious encounter was taking place between
a bull and a lion. Pippin sprang into the arena, cut
off the heads of both with his massive sword, and,
turning to his courtiers, said, '* Am I not worthy of
being your king? " And yet, as has been truly said,
between the towering proportions of his father and
of his son, the one the victor of Tours, and the other
the first Emperor of the West, the historic stature of
Pippin himself is dwarfed beneath its due proportions.
To his power as chief was added the authority of
king. The time was well chosen. The kingdom, as
it were, had been founded anew. All opposition of
the princes had been put down. Neustria and
Austrasia were firmly united, as is shown by the fact
that the same ecclesiastical synods were held for both
districts in common. The weapons of war were at
rest. Peace ruled at home and abroad.

CHAPTER XIV.

RELATIONS OF THE PAPACY WITH THE LOMBARDS
AND WITH THE EMPEROR, FROM THE TIME OF
GREGORY II. TO THE DEATH OF ZACHARIAS.

T has been shown already that Gregory
II. had opposed any break with the em-
peror, knowing full well that such a step
would leave the Papacy helpless before
the power and ambitions of the Lombard
king.i Under Gregory III., however, the opposition
engendered by the iconoclastic zeal of the emperor
became more apparent. Soon after his consecration
in 731, he held a synod of the clergy, nobles, and
people of Rome, at which a sentence of excommuni-
cation was decreed against the iconoclasts, thus re-
newing the controversy " which," as Gregorovius
says, " had now become little else than the symbol
of division between the church and the absolutism of
the state." 2 The presence of the lay element at this
synod is significant, and it is also to be noted that
the enumeration of the attendants includes the three
classes which made up Rome.^

1 See above, p. 89. 2 Gregorovius, vol. ii., p. 242.

3 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 416, c. 3.
123

1 24 The Age of Charlemagne.

It was recognized beyond a doubt that if the im-
perial power was too weak to protect the Pope
against the Lombards, it was too weak to keep him
in a strict dependence, and he became more and more
independent and better able to take advantage of
the position which, as head of the Roman Church,
he had come to hold in all Italy. This power, as we
have seen, was greatly advanced by Gregory I., and
was established on the deep and firm foundation of
the actual position of the Pope as defender of the
people against temporal injustice and wrong, as well
as acknowledged head of the Western Church.i But
it was the invasion of the Lombards and the struggles
against them, in which the popes were the most effec-
tive leaders, as well as the weakness of the emperor,
becoming ever more and more apparent, that, hu-
manly speaking, established the papal power in the
eighth century. So that it has been well said : " The
independence of the popes was struck like a spark
between the rival temporal powers that divided
Italy."-

The iconoclastic controversy helped on the move-
ment of separation. In 733 the emperor despatched
a fleet to punish the Pope for the threatening acts of
his council ; but the fleet having been shipwrecked in
the Adriatic, the emperor took his revenge by trans-
ferring the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Sicily, of
Calabria, and of Illyricum from the Bishop of Rome
to the Patriarch of Constantinople. This act had a
decisive influence on the history of southern Italy
throughout the middle ages, and made the ecclesias-

1 See above, pp. 97-99. 2 Bury, vol. ii., p. 156.

Political Interests of the Popes. 1 25

tical division between old Rome and New Rome
conform to the boundary between the Latin and
Greek nationaHties, thus tending to make more pro-
nounced the real difference between the Latin and
Greek churches. Papal authority in the imperial
possessions was limited to Rome, Ravenna, and
Venice. This separation of southern Italy was ren-
dered easier by the fact that Greek colonization had
already made that part of Italy a Greek land.

At about this same time, however, Gregory came
into the possession of Gallese, a fortified place in Ro-
man Tuscany, the acquisition being the result, it is said,
of a secret treaty with the Duke of Spoleto. A little
later, in 739, the dukes of Spoleto and of Benevento
obtained the support of Gregory in their opposition to
Liutprand by promising to aid the papal cause. Thus
the Pope was drawn into entangling alliances with
these Lombard dukes, and interfered with the internal
affairs of the Lombard kingdom, though in so doing
he showed himself the protector and defender of an
independent Roman state. Furthermore, although
the forms of the imperial control were allowed to re-
main, the popes were gradually, but surely, freeing
Italy from dependence upon Constantinople, at the
same time resisting the encroachments of the Lom-
bards, and giving to the Italian spirit of nationality
a centre of support and a source of enthusiasm. The
temporal power of the Papacy made it possible for it
to use its two greatest powers, its great wealth and
the religious awe which it inspired, for the furtherance
of the national movement in Italy, although this was
hardly the purpose for which the Papacy had been

126 The Age of Charlemagne.

established, and to which, at first, it had been de-
voted. More and more, as it took a political position,
it became subject to political considerations and in-
fluences, and its higher mission was lost or subordi-
nated to its new obligations and ambitions.

The alliance of the Pope with the Southern dukes
was renewed. Liutprand attacked Spoleto, but its
duke fled to Rome, and the Lombard king found
himself face to face with the Roman army under the
Duke of Rome, the imperial ofificer of the Roman
duchy. The Duke of Spoleto was enabled to return
to his dominions, but Liutprand seized and occupied
the four cities of AmeHa, Orte, Bomarzo, and Blera.
The Duke of Spoleto, having obtained his object,
suffered his zeal in support of the Papacy to flag, and
Gregory, recognizing the inadequacy of either Italian
or imperial alliances in his struggle with the Lom-
bards, appealed to Charles Martel.^ In a second let-
ter the Pope sought to justify the aid given to the
dukes of Spoleto and of Benevento in their revolt
against Liutprand, but he said nothing about the tak-
ing of the four cities in 739. Charles made no defi-
nite answer, as we have seen,^ but confined himself
to general expressions of respect and interest; the
persons he sent into Italy probably told him that the
Pope had brought upon himself the diflficulties of
which he complained, by interfering unnecessarily in
the affairs of the Lombard king.^

Gregory III. died soon after, and within four days

1 Jaff^, vol. iv., pp. 14-18, Ep. I, 2, A.D, 739, 740.

2 See above, p. 102.

3 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 425, note 34.

Pope Zacharias, 127

of his death Zacharias succeeded to the Papacy,
fully prepared and well able to carry on the policy
of resistance to the Lombards. The right of imperial
confirmation of the Pope had been transferred to the
exarch in 685, or perhaps as early as 642/ thus
avoiding long delays, though greatly increasing the
influence of the exarch. There is no record, however,
that Zacharias did more than announce his election
and consecration to the emperor.

It is a significant fact that he was the last of an
almost unbroken series of Greeks and Syrians in the
papal line for nearly a century. During his pontifi-
cate he gave evidence of great courage and self-reli-
ance, as well as of marked diplomacy and skill. The
papal biographer describes him as a very mild and
genial man, slow to anger and quick to pity, never
rendering evil for evil, nor taking even deserved
revenge, but pious and merciful, doing good to
his evil persecutors, and promoting them to honor.2
Liutprand and his nobles being present on one oc-
casion when the Pope was consecrating a bishop, it
is reported that " many of the Lombards were
moved to tears by the very manner of his saying
prayers." ^

At the time of his accession the death of Charles
Martel had left the Prankish government in a con-
fused condition, without a king,* and with three
brothers, Karlmann, Pippin, and Grifo, at variance

1 Hodgkin, vol. vi., p. 530, note 3.

2 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 426, c. i.

3 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. 1., p. 428, c. 10.

* The king had died four years before, and Charles had not thought
it worth while to set up another. See above, p. 103.

1 28 The Age of Charlemagne.

with one another. Consequently, until affairs were
settled there, no alliance could be formed.

The Pope therefore made a treaty with Liutprand,
in which the Duke of Spoleto was left to his fate, the
king promising to restore to the Pope the four cities,
Amelia, Orte, Bomarzo, and Blera, which he had
seized two years before from the emperor. This was
the third donation to the Pope from the Lombard
conquests. He also bestowed upon the Pope the
Sabine district, and restored several ecclesiastical
estates. In conclusion he made a treaty of peace
with the duchy of Rome to last for twenty years.
Being now at the height of his power, he proceeded
to attack Ravenna, which he had captured once be-
fore, but which the Venetians had recovered. The
exarch now appealed to the Pope, who hastened to
the court of Liutprand, after all messages and em-
bassies had proved fruitless. Here, for the third time,
the eloquence of a pope, and the awe which he was
able to inspire, accomplished what arms had failed to
do, and Liutprand withdrew his forces and resigned
his conquests. Even the third part, which he had
retained as a pledge, he afterwards handed over to
the " republic." 1

The death of Liutprand, who had shown himself a
noble, strong, and brave king, except in the presence
of the Pope, removed an ever-threatening danger, and
left Zacharias master of the situation. Friendly re-
lations with the empire were restored, and the im-
perial power in Italy was acknowledged in the persons
of the exarch in Ravenna and of the duke in Rome.

1 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 431, c. 15.

Rulers become Monks, 129

At the request of the Pope, the emperor bestowed
upon the church the cities Mirfa and Norma in La-
tium, as a sort of compensation for the loss incurred
in Sicily and Calabria.^ This he might well do, as he
owed to the Pope the preservation from the Lom-
bards of all that the empire held in Italy.

It was before this same pope that two great rulers
— Karlmann of the Franks in 747, and Rachis, for-
merly Duke of Friuli, and successor to Liutprand
as King of the Lombards, in 749 — renounced their
high positions and embraced the monastic life. The
resignation of Rachis, though doubtless flattering to
the church and to papal diplomacy, was not advan-
tageous to the papal interests, for his brother Aistulf,
who succeeded him as King of the Lombards, was a
much fiercer and more valiant warrior, and, despite
his many promises, was firmly determined to carry
out the poUcy of opposing Rome and of estabhshing
the Lombard rule over all Italy. Indeed, it has been
suggested that it was probably the dissatisfaction
with the weak and yielding policy which Rachis had
begun to exhibit that influenced, if it did not bring
about, his decision to retire to a monastery. The
aggressive policy of Aistulf, however, drove the
Pope to look with favor upon a renewal of the rela-
tions with the Franks, which had ceased since the
death of Charles Martel ; and the embassy which
Pippin sent on the subject of the Prankish kingship
returned with a favorable response, and the conse-
cration of Pippin as king by the bishops of the Frank-
ish church, with the approbation and authorization

1 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i.,^p. 433> c. 20.

ijo The Age of Charlemagne,

of the Pope, was the result. Although some shreds
of the formalities connecting Rome with the empire
still remained, and the papal documents until ']']2
continued to bear the name and date of the emperor,^
this act of consecration, and its consequences, to-
gether with the conquest of Ravenna by the Lom-
bards and the downfall of the exarchate, presently
to be noticed, practically ended all real connection
between Italy and Constantinople.

Note.— In an old manuscript of Gregory of Tours has been found
a note written on one of the pages by a monk of St. Denis, in the year
767. He records that Pippin and his sons, " by the providence of
God, were consecrated with the sacred chrism as kings thirteen years
before (754). For the said most flourishing, pious lord, King Pippin,
by the authority and command {imperhwi) of the lord Pope Zacharias
of sacred memory, and by the anointing of the holy chrism by the hands
of the blessed priests of the Gauls, and by the election of all the Franks
three years before (75 1), had been exalted to the throne of the kingdom.
Afterwards by the hands of the Pontiff Stephen, in the Church of
the Blessed Martyrs (St. Denis, Rusticus, and Eleutherius), he Avas
anointed and blessed as King and Patrician, together with his sons
Charles and Karlmann. Blessing was also pronounced upon his wife,
Bertrada, and the Frankish princes, and all Avere constrained by threats
of interdict and excommunication never to presume to elect a king
from another race." (" Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 458, note 31.)

1 Jaff^, " Regesta Pontif. Rom.," vol. i,, pp. 289, 290, No. 2395.

CHAPTER XV.

RELATIONS OF THE PAPACY WITH THE LOMBARDS
AND WITH THE FRANKS — OVERTHROW OF
THE EXARCHATE BY THE LOMBARDS — THE
POPE CROSSES THE ALPS — THE DONATION
OF PIPPIN — THE PAPAL CONSECRATION OF
PIPPIN AND HIS SONS AS KINGS OF THE
FRANKS AND PATRICIANS OF THE ROMANS.

ACHARIAS died before he could claim
his reward for the consecration of Pippin,
perhaps even before the consecration.^
Stephen II. having died immediately
after his election, the next pope, Stephen
III., sometimes called Stephen II., soon found him-
self in the greatest need. Already, in 751, Aistulf
had conquered Ravenna and brought the rule of the
exarchs to an end.^ For a moment, however, even he
yielded to the persuasions of Stephen, and renewed the
treaty of peace made by Liutprand ; but, repenting of

1 According to Sickel, Muhlbacher, and others, Pippin was raised
to the throne in November,'75 1 (Boehmer, vol. i., p. 30). Some put
it as late as 752 (Gregorovius, vol. ii., p. 267, note 2). Zacharias
died^March 14, 752 (" Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 435, c. 29).

2 '' Eutychius (727-752) is the last exarch of whom we have any
mention." (Hodgkin, vol. vi., p. 537.)

131

TJie Age of Charlemagne.

his weakness, he demanded a heavy tribute, and pre-
pared to put into effective operation his designs upon
Rome, The papal ambassadors were not even re-
ceived, and were sent back to their monasteries with
orders not to see the Pope. The Pope heard with
dismay of the advance of Aistulf and his breach of
the treaty. He headed a solemn procession of clergy
and people, barefooted, and with ashes sprinkled on
their heads, and visited the shrines and holy places
in the city, bearing the sacred image of Christ called
the Acheropsita.^ Attached to the cross carried in
the procession was the treaty of peace which Aistulf
so perfidiously had broken. But reHgious processions
were of no avail, and even the emperor could protect
Rome no longer, for he had not been able to retain
Ravenna. It was then that the step was taken for
which the whole previous history had been preparing,
and which was fraught v^^ith such far-reaching conse-
quences. The exarchate had fallen, the emperor was
powerless, and the Pope turned his back upon both,
and placed himself and the church under the protec-
tion of the Franks. The new king was reminded of
the obligations he had incurred so recently, and was
called upon to assume the responsibilities of his posi-
tion. The first letters, unfortunately, are lost, but
from a later one we learn that Pippin sent to Rome

1 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 443, c. ii.

" This is the first mention of this sacred picture. It is painted on
wood, is dark, and is entirely Byzantine, representing the Saviour with
a beard. It was used in processions in the middle ages, and on the
vigil of the Assumption was washed in the Forum, as in former days
the statue of Cyljele in the Almo. The nocturnal procession, having
degenerated into a bacchanal rout, was abolished by Pius V." (Grego-
rovius, vol. ii., p. 274, note 2.)

The Pope Crosses the Alps. 133

Drochtegang, Abbot of Jumlcges, and another mes-
senger, who assured the Pope of the king's good
will.^ Shortly afterwards, having learned that the
Pope desired to enter the Prankish kingdom, Pippin
and the whole assembly of the Franks despatched
Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, and Duke Autchar to
escort him. In the meanwhile an imperial order had
been received in Rome commanding the Pope to
demand in person from Aistulf the restoration of the
exarchate. He accordingly began his journey in the
middle of October, leaving the Lord's people {do-
mmica plebs) to the care of the Lord and of St. Peter.
Before this, on similar occasions, they had been left
to the imperial officer, the Duke of Rome. Proceed-
ing directly to Pavia, he remained there a month, but
his attempts at negotiation with Aistulf proved fruit-
less. Owing to the mediation of his Prankish escorts,
he was allowed to depart unmolested. Proceeding
on his way, he was met by two more messengers of
the king, — Fulrad, Abbot of St. Denis,- and Duke
Rothard, — sent to conduct him to the presence of
the king.

It is a significant fact that Stephen was the first
Roman bishop to cross the Alps. Tradition, indeed,
tells of an earlier visit by Gregory III. to Charles
Martel in 741, but it seems extremely improbable.^

During the summer the king had been engaged in
a campaign against the Saxons, who, *' according to

1 Jaff^, vol. iv., p. 32, Ep. 4, A.D. 753.

2 He had been one of the messengers sent to gain the papal consent
to Pippin's coronation.

3 Alzog accepts it on the authority of Johann von Miiller (Alzog, vol.
ii., p. 143, note i).

1 34 The Age of Charlemagne.

their custom," as the chronicler says, had broken
out again in rebellion, and had put to death Hildigar,
Bishop of Cologne.^ In this campaign he had been
successful, having forced them to the tribute of three
hundred horses annually, and to receive again the
Christian missionaries. On his return he received
the report of the death of Grifo, his half-brother.
A little later came the news that Pope Stephen had
crossed the Alps and was already in the kingdom.
At this Pippin was greatly pleased, and sent his eldest
son, then twelve years of age, to meet him and con-
duct him to the court. Thus the young Charles, later
to be known as Charles the Great, met the Bishop of
Rome. With great honor the Pope was escorted to
Ponthion, where the king was spending the winter.
The meeting took place on the 6th of January, the
feast of the Epiphany. It was indeed a most mo-
mentous occasion, signifying as it did the alliance of
the church of the old empire with the new kingdom
of the West.

Elaborate details of the meeting are given by
the papal biographer. Pippin rode out a distance
of three miles, where he dismounted, and, with great
humility, prostrate on the ground, with his wife
and sons and nobles, received the Pope, and in
the office of a groom walked beside him for some
distance. Then with chants and hymns the whole
procession made its way to the palace. There, seated
in the chapel, the Pope, with tears in his eyes, be-

1 Hildigar was the bishop who in controversy with Boniface had
claimed the church of Utrecht, in Friesland, as dependent upon him-
self. See Neander, vol. iii., p. 71.

Meeting of Pippin and the Pope, 135

sought the king that by a treaty of peace he would
settle the cause of the blessed Peter and of the re-
public of the Romans.i The Prankish chroniclers
add that, *' on the following day, the Pope, with his
clergy, clad in haircloth and sprinkled with ashes,
prostrate on the ground, besought the king, by the
mercy of Almighty God, and by the merits of the
blessed apostles Peter and Paul, to free him and the
Roman people from the hand of the Lombards and
from the service of the haughty King Aistulf. Nor
would he rise from the ground until the king, with
his sons and the nobles, stretched forth the hand
and raised him from the ground in token of their
future aid and deliverance." ^

It was at this time that Pippin promised to restore
that which the Lombards had seized, and to free the
church from their power, a promise which was ratified
and confirmed by the national assembly or diet at
which all the Franks were assembled according to
regular custom.

The regular national assembly at which affairs of
state were settled seems to have been held in March
at Braisne, as appears from the Continuator of
Fredigarius and the " Annals of Metz." The life of
Stephen and that of Hadrian, given in the Pontifical
Book, assign these acts to an assembly at Kiersey ;
but it appears from Labbe's '* Councils " (lib. iv.,
p. 1650) that ecclesiastical matters regarding baptism
and marriage were settled here.

At one or the other, however, the nobles gave

1 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., pp. 447. 44^, c. 25, 26.

2 " Chron. Moiss.," an. 741-754 5 " M. G. SS.," vol. i., p. 293.

136 The Age of Charlemagne.

their assent to the war with the Lombards, not with-
out a good deal of persuasion, for there seems to
have been a strong Lombard party among them.
Already in 753 Stephen had addressed a special
letter to them adjuring them to support Pippin in
all that he might do for the welfare of the blessed
Peter, Prince of the Apostles.^ It is to this state of
affairs Einhard refers when he speaks of the expedi-
tion undertaken by Pippin at the supplication of
Pope Stephen, '' after great difficulties, for some of the
chief men of the Franks with whom he was wont to
consult were so opposed to his will that they openly
declared they would leave the king and return home." 2

At this assembly, probably, was drawn up the
famous donation of Pippin, the acknowledged basis
of the later grant by Charles the Great, and the main
foundation of the temporal possessions of the Pope.^

The transactions are thus alluded to in the papal
letters : " You [Pippin and his sons] have earnestly
endeavored to establish the rights of the blessed
Peter as far as you could, and by a deed of donation *
your goodness has confirmed the restitution. . . . By
your own will, by a deed of donation, you confirmed
the restitution of the cities and places belonging to
the blessed Peter and to the holy church of God and
to the republic. . . . And what you have once
promised to the blessed Peter, and by your donation
confirmed by your own hand, hasten to render and

1 Jaff.5, vol. iv., p. 33, Ep. 5, A.D. 753.

2 Einhard, "Vita,"c. 6.

3 Boehmer, vol. i., p. 2>Z\ Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 87-90; Gregorovius,
vol. ii., pp. 278-287.

* Per donationis paginam.

Pippins Donatio7i, 137

to give up; for it is better not to promise than to
promise and not to perform." ^ *' Ouicl^ly and with-
out delay render to the blessed Peter the cities and
places and all the hostages and captives and all things
contained in the donation which you have promised
to the blessed Peter by your donation." ^ " For know
that the Prince of the Apostles holds firmly that
donation of yours in your own handwriting.^ And
it is necessary that you carry out that which you
yourself have written,^ lest when the just Judge shall
come in fire to judge the living and the dead and the
world, that Prince of the Apostles showing that very
autograph as having no validity, you are forced to
employ very vacillating excuses with him."^

However this might be, the deed, which, we can
hardly doubt, really existed, is lost, and it would be
difficult to carry out this threat, even if there were
no other obstacles in the way. Nor have we any
definite idea as to its contents ; indeed, it was prob-
ably as indefinite and general in its terms as the
foregoing quotations would imply. But already, as
the Pope afterwards reminds the two sons of Pippin,
the promise had been made to the blessed Peter, his
vicar, and his successors, '' that you would be friends
to our friends and enemies to our enemies, as also
we have determined to remain firm in the same prom-
ise;.. . for it is written, ' he that receiveth you re-
ceiveth me,^ and he that despiseth you despiseth me. * " '^

1 Jaff^, vol. iv., pp. 35, 36, Ep. 6, A.D. 755.

2 Jaff^, vol. iv., p. 41, Ep. 7, A.D. 755.

3 Cyrographum vestram donationem. * Ipsum cyrographum.
5 Jaff6, vol. iv., p. 41, Ep. 7, A.D. 755. 6 St. Matt. x. 40.
7 St. Luke X. 16; Jaff^, vol. iv., pp. 160, 161, Ep. 47, a.d. 769.

138 The Age of Charlemagne »

It was in consideration of such promises given and
received that the union was estabhshed between the
Prankish kingdom and the Roman Church. On July
2^, 754, in Paris, in the Church of St. Denis, the Pope,
as vicar on earth of St. Peter and of Christ,^ conse-
crated Pippin and his two sons, Charles and Karl-
mann, as kings of the Franks, joining in his blessing
Pippin's wife also, the Queen Bertrada, as well as the
nobles and chiefs of the Franks, binding all, by threats
of interdict and excommunication, never to presume
to choose one of another race as king.^ Upon Pippin
and his sons he conferred the additional title of Pa-
trician of the Romans. This title was one which the
earlier emperors had been wont to bestow upon bar-
barian kings, and had been borne in this way by
Odoacer, Theodoric, and Clovis. As such it appears
to have been a merely honorary title, but it is signifi-
cant that at this time it had been borne by the exarch
whom Aistulf had just overthrown.

Though legally it could be conferred only by the
emperor, yet as conferred by the Pope it might serve
to identify permanently the King of the Franks with
the interests of the city and its lord, the Pope, as
patron or protector. It may be noted that the Pope
does not connect together patrician and protector,
but rather connects the defence of Rome with the
anointing as king.^

It may be maintained, however, that by this title
of Patrician Stephen sought to express, by a formal

1 Jaff^, vol. iv., pp. 34, 37.

2 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 448, c. 27; Boehmer, vol. i., p. 34.

3 JafT^, vol. iv., p. 36, Ep. 6, p. 38, Ep. 7, a.d. 755.

Patrician of the Romans. 139

term, the legal obligation to support and to defend
the Roman Church and possessions in Italy. To this
obligation he regarded Pippin as morally bound in
consideration of his consecration of Pippin as king.^

The title of Patrician had been held by a long line
of exarchs at Ravenna," and now that the exarchate
had been destroyed it might be deemed wise by the
Pope to transfer its title and relation to the church
to some more able upholder. Whether the Pope,
by conferring this title, intended to confer or did
confer any power of government or control, as Hegel
affirms,^ may be doubted. At any rate, hardly will
it be claimed that Pippin exercised any such power
in Rome, though the next Pope, Paul I., before his
consecration, announced his elevation to Pippin in
the same terms in \vhich his predecessors had an-
nounced their elections to the exarchs.*

1 Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 85, 86; Bollinger, "Charles the Great,"
pp. 92-98; Gregorovius, vol. ii., pp. 281-284; Ducange, " Glossa-
rium," s. v. " Patricius."

2 "Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 403, c. 15, p. 404, c. 16 (Paulus),
p. 405, c. 19 (Eutychius). On p. 416, c. 4, Sergius is mentioned as
Patrician of Sicily. Also in the letters of Gregory I. the governors
of provinces are addressed as Patrician. See "The Epistles of
St. Gregory the Great," bk. vi., Ep. 57; " Nicene Fathers," second
series, vol. xii., p. 205.

3 Hegel, vol. i., pp. 209, 210.

4 " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 466, note i ; Jaff^, vol. iv., pp. 67, 68,
Ep. 12, A.D. 757, April or May. His consecration took place May
29, 757, thirty-five days after Stephen's death.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE VICTORY OF PIPPIN OVER AISTULF — LOMBARD
TREACHERY — THE SACK OF ROME — THE PAPAL
APPEAL — ST. PETER'S LETTER — SECOND VIC-
TORY OF THE FRANKS — PIPPIN'S DONATION —
THE REPUBLIC OF ROME — THE TEMPORAL
POWER OF THE POPE — DEATH OF AISTULF —
ACCESSION OF DESIDERIUS — RENEWED DIFFI-
CULTIES.

ISTULF now recognized the fact that
the struggle for Italy must be fought out
with the Franks unless he could nullify
the papal influence. In the midst of the
events of the famous year 754, and prob-
ably just before the consecration in July, Karlmann,
the king's brother, came from his monastery of
Monte Cassino to urge Pippin not to yield to the
pope's persuasions. It was said that he came, and
that his abbot ordered his coming unwillingly, but
that being in the Duchy of Benevento — that is, on
Lombard territory, they were forced to yield to
Aistulf's wishes.' Pippin, however, told his brother
that he could not do other than what he had prom-

* " Einhardi Ann,," an. 753 ; M. G. SS,, vol. i., p. 139.
140

Pippins Offer Refused. 141

ised to the Roman chief. He then ordered Karl-
mann to be seized and taken to the monastery of
Vienne, where he died that same year.'

Pippin then turned his attention to the Lombards.
Crossing the Alps, he sent forward his messengers
to Aistulf, demanding the immediate cessation of
hostilities against the holy church, whose defender
he declared himself to be by divine ordination, re-
quiring also the restoration of the territory already
seized. Aistulf insolently refused to do anything
except to show Pippin the way home. The mes-
sengers replied : " Pippin will not depart until you
return to St. Peter the Pentapolis and all the other
cities and territory unjustly taken from the Roman
people ; but he offers to pay in consideration twelve
thousand solidi." Fortunately for the future firm
establishment of the papal power, Aistulf refused
this offer and dismissed the messengers with angry
threats. Pope Stephen by his letters endeavored
to bring about a peaceable settlement in order to
avoid bloodshed, but without avail. ^ The arms of
Pippin, however, soon accomplished what gentler
measures had failed to effect, and Aistulf, besieged
in Pavia, promised all that was demanded, and be-
sides yielding up the captured territory, promised
to pay thirty thousand solidi and a yearly tribute
of five thousand to Pippin. In pledge of this he
gave as hostages forty of his nobles.^ Aistulf, how-

^ " Ann. Mett.,"an. 754 ; " Einhardi Ann.," an. 753 ; M. G. SS.,
vol. i., pp. 332 and 139 ; " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., pp. 448, 449, c. 30 ;
Boehmer, vol. i., p. 25.

' "Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 449, c. 33.

3 "Ann. Mett.," an. 754 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 332.

142 The Age of Charlemagne.

ever, all danger from the Franks being removed,
broke the agreement which Pippin had extorted
from him, and refused to restore the cities which
he had seized. Stephen had evidently foreseen that
something of this sort would happen, for he had
strenuously urged Pippin to remain in Italy until
the Lombards had evacuated Ravenna and the rest
of the captured territory. It was probably in conse-
quence of Pippin's refusal or inability to comply
with this request that the pope secured from him at
this time a written guarantee that the restitution
should be made, even if the Frankish army had to
cross the Alps again to force the perfidious Lom-
bard to fulfil his promise. That which the pope
had feared had come to pass.

In the very next year Aistulf's army thundered
at the gates of Rome. The pope therefore wrote
as follows : " Pope Stephen to his sons and most
excellent lords, Pippin, Charles, and Karlmann,
kings and patricians of the Romans." He reminded
them of their earnest desire to secure St. Peter's
rights, and that they had confirmed the promised
restitution by a deed of donation. " However, not
one inch of land," he says, " was allowed to go back
to the blessed Peter and the holy church of God, the
Republic of the Romans. Besides, from the very
day on which we parted from each other he (Aistulf)
has tried to harass us, and to bring the holy church
of God into disgrace." He asks them to trust him
rather than the lying Lombards, and promises them
victory, and urges them to restore and hand over to
the church all that by the " donation" they had

Papal Appeals. 143

authorized him to present to St. Peter. " Hasten,
therefore, to perform what you have promised by
your donation, confirmed by your own hand. ' For
the blessed Apostle Paul said, Better is it not to vow,
than after having vowed not to pay.'"* "And
you will render an account to God and the blessed
Peter in the dreadful day of judgment, how you
have labored for the cause of that prince of the apos-
tles and for restoring his cities and places." " This
good work has been reserved for you. No one of
your ancestors deserved such an effulgent reward,
but God pre-elected and foreknew you before in-
finite time, as it is written, ' whom he foreknew and
predestinated them he also called, and whom he
called them he also justified.'^ You have been
called, strive to do justice to the prince of the apos-
tles without delay, because it has been written,
' Faith is justified by works.' " Farewell, most ex-
cellent sons." *

In spite of this appeal Pippin made no expedition
against the Lombards at this time, and before the
year was over he received a second letter from the
pope, similar in style and contents, only more urgent
and pressing.^ Pippin, however, refused. Affairs
at home were pressing. The usual spring assembly
was held in March, though it was decided to hold
the meeting after this year in May instead of in

^ Unfortunately for Stephen's knowledge of Scripture, this
verse is Ecclesiastes v. 5, the nearest approach to it in the New
Testament being Acts v. 4.

^ An attempt to quote Romans viii. 29, 30.

^ Cf. St. James ii. 22, 24.

* Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 34-37 ; Ep. 6, a.d. 755.

■^ See quotations on p. 137.

144 ^^^^ ^^^ ^f Charlemagne,

March,' and the name was changed from Marfield
to Maifield. This change, by which the time of the
assembly was made two months later, is significant,
as the result of the change in the army introduced
by Charles Martel. The war with the Saracens re-
quired a more extended use of cavalry than that to
which the early Germans had been accustomed in
the forests and morasses of their northern homes,
and the southern plains, where their contests now
for the most part took place, allowed the freer use
of horses. The need of forage, therefore, in the
expeditions, which followed upon the holding of the
assembly at which it was decided, required the hold-
ing of that assembly later, when the feeding would
be in better condition.

Meanwhile the pope's distress increased, and three
letters followed each other in quick succession in
the early part of 756. The first was sent not only
to 'the three kings and patricians, but also " to all
bishops, abbots, presbyters, and monks, as well as
to the dukes, counts, and the whole army in the
name of the pope and all the bishops, presbyters,
deacons, dukes, the keepers of the records, counts,
tribunes, and the whole people and army of the
Romans." "

The worst had happened. Evils had come thick
and fast. The city itself was attacked. On every
side it was surrounded by the Lombards-, devastat-
ing with fire and sword. Churches were pillaged
and burned, images of the saints and ornaments of

' " Ann. Petav. Contin.," an. 755 ; Pertz. M. G. SS., i., p. 11.
' Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 34-48 ; Ep. 8, a.d. 756.

A Letter from St. Peter. 145

the altars were destroyed. With a superstition com-
mon even to robbers and murderers the Catacombs
were entered, and reHcs of the saints carried away
as objects of reverence and worship.

Fifty-five days did Rome endure the siege, and
the Lombard king had called aloud in his fury :
'* Behold you are surrounded by us, let the Franks
come now and snatch you out of our hands. " "In-
deed," wrote the pope, " after God the lives of the
Romans are in the hands of the Franks. If they
perish the nations will say : ' Where is the trust of
the Romans which they had, after God, in the kings
and people of the Franks?' " He then proceeds
with alternating prayers and threats and promises
of reward, appealing to every instinct and passion
which might be present in the Frankish breast.
This letter he accompanied with one in a similar
strain to Pippin personally. Finally, a letter was
sent purporting to be written by St. Peter himself.
Most of it has been translated by Dr. Mombert with
appropriate comments.' It is filled with the most
solemn adjurations and frightful threats. " I, Peter,
the apostle of God . . . adjure you even as if I were
bodily in the flesh, alive, and present before you,
firmly to believe that the words of this exhortation
are addressed to you, and that though I be bodily
absent, I am spiritually present. '"^ " This letter,"
says Fleury,^ " like those preceding it, is full of quib-
bles. The church signifies not the company of be-

^ Mombert, "Charles the Great," pp. 44-48.
' Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 55-60; Ep. 10, a.d. 756.
^ Fleury, " Eccl. Hist.," 1., xlvii., c. 17. Quoted by Mombert,
1. c, p. 44, note I.

J

146 The Age of Charlemagne.

lievers, but temporal possessions consecrated to the
service of God ; the flock of Christ is represented
by the bodies, not by the souls of men ; the tem-
poral promises of the ancient law are mixed up with
the spiritual promises of the gospel, and the most
sacred motives of religion are pressed into the ser-
vice of a simple affair of state."

These letters, however, met with an immediate
response, and Pippin proceeded to cross the Alps
again as Patrician of the Romans and Defender of
the Church. Passing through Burgundy, he besieged
and took Classe, a city taken by the Lombards at
the beginning of the iconoclastic outbreak. On the
march to Pavia he v/as met by messengers of the
emperor, who urged him to restore the exarchate
and the other cities to their lawful owner as soon as
he regained them from the Lombards. Pippin re-
fused point blank, asserting that by no consideration
whatever could he be induced to allow those cities
to be alienated from the power of the blessed Peter,
and from the right of the Roman Church or the
pontiffs of the Apostolic See, affirming also under
oath that not for the favor of man had he devoted
himself so often to the contest, but only for love of
the blessed Peter and for the pardon of his sins,
asserting this also that no abundance of treasure
could induce him to take back that which he had
once bestowed upon the blessed Peter.-

The siege of Pavia forced Aistulf to surrender
with a promise to fulfil his former oath of restitu-
tion, and in addition to deliver to Pippin one third
' " Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 452, c. 43-45 ; Boehmer, vol. i., p. 37.

The Foundation of the Ternporal Power. 147

of the treasure stored in Pavia, together with an an-
nual tribute, and never more to rebel against him.'

Roughly speaking, this restitution included, ac-
cording to the early chronicles, Ravenna with the
Pentapolis, and the whole of the exarchate.

Foldrad, abbot of St. Denis, was commissioned
to execute a treaty as far as it applied to the resti-
tution of the cities. He accordingly went to each
of them and received their hostages and signs of
submission. He also took their keys, which to-
gether with the donation he placed on the tomb of
St. Peter, thus giving them " to that apostle of God
and to his vicar, the most holy pope, and to all his
successors forever to have in their possession and at
their disposal." "^

This was the formal act on which was laid the
foundations of the temporal power of the papacy.
It will be well to stop for a moment to analyze it
and to consider its justice and significance.

We have noted the steps by which the popes
came to exercise a certain temporal power in Italy,

' In the life of Stephen it is declared that this restitution in-
cludes Ravenna, Rimini, Pesaro, Fano, Cesena, Sinigaglia, Jesi,
Forlimpopoli, Forli, Urbino, Cagli, Gubbio, Marni, Commachio,
but the exact territory is still a matter of dispute. Duchesne
says, note 51, on p. 460 of " Lib. Pontif.": " The cities are probably
those of the treaty and donation of 754, and represent probably all
the conquests of Aistulf on imperial territory. At the death of
Liutprand, the Lombard frontier extended between Imola and
Ravenna, and all these places are situated east of a line between
the Apennines and the Po, perpendicular to the route between
Imola and Ravenna. As far as identified they are given above,
to which may be added San Leo, Vobio or Bobio (Sarsina), Conca,
Acerreagium and Serra. See Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 87-91 : 21S-220 ;
Gregorovius, vol. ii., pp. 295-301 ; Bury, vol. ii., p. 500 ; Alzog.,
vol. ii., pp. 144-147.

' "Lib. Pontif.," vol. i., p. 454, c. xlvii.

148 The Age of Charlemagne.

especially in the central and northern parts. At
first only over the landed possessions or scattered
estates of the church, but soon increasing: and ex-
tending to other parts of Italy, first, by reason of
the strong personality, marked ability, and cour-
ageous foresight of popes like Gregory I., II., and
III.; secondly, on account of the demand for some
strong central power to defend Rome against the
attacks of the Lombards, to protect the Italians
from the exorbitant taxation and irreverent zeal of
the emperors, and from disunion and disintegration ;
and, thirdly, because of the inability and weakness
of the exarchate to fulfil this function, and the im-
possibility of the emperor's doing it owing to his
distance from the scene, and the battles in defence
of Europe against the Avars, the Persians, and the
Mahometans, which engaged all his attention and
resources in the East.

Thus gradually, almost unconsciously, without
charters, decrees, or treaties, the bishop of Rome
had come to be the recognized leader and director
of the civilized forces of the West, and almost in-
sensibly had come to be the self-appointed delegate
or representative of the imperial power. In this
last attack of the Lombards the imperial forces had
utterly failed, the emperor could give no aid, the
exarchate had been overthrown, and even the pope,
as the only other representative of the imperial
power, had been unable to accomplish anything
directly against the greedy and victorious Aistulf.
Surely the empire had forfeited all claims to its
former possessions in the West. But the bishop of

Pipphis Gift of Temporal Poiver. 149

Rome, by the spiritual position and prestige which
he had already gained, had sanctioned the transfer-
ence of the kingly name and power from one family
to another in a far Western kingdom, which had
won its independence of the Roman Empire cen-
turies before, and he had thereby established a
strong power and gained an able and effective ally.
Upon the representative of this new kingship he
had bestowed the spiritual benediction and anoint-
ing of the church, giving him as a seal of his mis-
sion the title of patrician, not of the empire, but of
the Romans, the people of the Apostolic Church of
Peter, the chief of the apostles. The first repre-
sentative of the new line of kings in the West cre-
ated or established, not by the empire, but by the
church, had won by force of arms from the enemies
of the empire that which the empire had been un-
able to keep. In fulfilment of his promise, he now
restored to the church and Roman Republic, whose
nominal head was the emperor, but whose real head
was the pope, that temporal sovereignty which she
had been gathering up as the empire had been let-
ting it fall, which had actually passed into the hands
of the Lombards, and now, by actual conquest by
Pippin and by gift from him, she had received. The
emperor had lost his power by inability to defend
it. Pippin had gained it by conquest from the
Lombards, the pope received it because he had ex-
ercised it practically before the Lombard seized it,
and because Pippin had been willing to bestow it
upon him.

What, then, was this power, and what was its sig-

150 The Age of Charlemagne.

nificancc ? Pope Stephen III. speaks of it as the
Republic of Rome, by which he apparently intended
to signify the Roman State in general, the leader-
ship and authority of Rome, which for so long a
time had been personified in him, and so had come
to be inseparably united with the power he exer-
cised as bishop of Rome and successor of St. Peter.

Rome had increased in political importance till
with the patrimony of St. Peter, consisting of cities
and towns scattered over Italy and the island of
Sicily, it became a sort of principality under the
suzerainty of the Roman emperor. Thus the old
idea of the Roman State was revived, and came to
be considered a real republic with its own army {ex-
crcitus romajius) and its own constitution and inter-
ests, the papal.

It was mainly by wealth and religious considera-
tion that the popes had been brought into such a
prominent political position, so that at the failure
of the imperial rule the secular powers are found
occupying a subordinate place. This is seen also in
the way in which even the emperors recognized the
influence which the popes were able to exercise over
the Lombards.

The republic, however, seems to denote no actual
constitution, but is a phrase revived and used by
Stephen and his successors to indicate a government
independent of and apart from the empire. Just
what was the form or extent of this power is not
definitely stated.

Pippin had driven off the Lombards who had har-
assed and threatened the pope, and had interfered

The Donation and the Temporal Power, 151

with the power he was already exercising in nom-
inal dependence upon the emperor. By the dona-
tion of this territory Pippin did undoubtedly cede
to the church the cities of the exarchate and Pentap-
olis free from imperial oversight and from Lom-
bard encroachment. " As the Eastern emperor is
no longer recognized as having any rights, no more
does Pippin claim any such for himself ; nor was
there in Rome any mention of an overlordship of
Pippin. On the other hand, all connection with the
emperor of the East was not given up in Rome,
and the regnal years of the emperor continued to
be used in assigning dates." *

But the great temporal power of the Roman See
was not gained by any single act or stroke of policy,
nor did it come all at once, norw^as it definitely out-
lined at each step of its progress. All has been told
that can be known at the present. A further de-
velopment and a greater definiteness will be noted
under Charles the Great.

Pippin returned home after his victories, but the
new relations of the king and his people to the
Lombards and to Rome had brought about great
changes, and gave promise of still greater ones.
For weal or for woe, the new kingship w^as irrevoca-
bly bound up with the papacy.

On a hunting expedition at the close of the year
Aistulf was killed by a fall, and the pope informs
Pippin of the fact in a letter written in the spring

» Waitz iii P 89. This author, referring to Papencordt,
p. 134, nite, says that this was used for the last time in 772, but
Bury, p. 503', gives 781 as the last year.

152 The Age of Charlemagne.

of 757. '* Aistulf, that tyrant and devil-follower,
devourer of the blood of Christians, destroyer of
the churches of God, has been struck by a divine
blow and hurled into the abyss of hell." ' Having
left no heir, the choice of the Lombards, " with
the consent," we read, " of King Pippin and his
nobles," ' turned to Desiderius, Duke of Tuscany,
and he became their king. He immediately gained
the pope's good will by restoring to him the cities
which Aistulf had failed to surrender, although
stipulated in the treaty. In April, 757, Stephen
himself died, and his successor, Paul I., brother of
Stephen, hastened to announce his election to " the
new Moses and David." A letter also followed in
the name of all the Senate and the whole body of
the Roman people,^ assuring him of their gratitude,
and declaring that they will remain firm and faith-
ful to the holy church and to Paul, by God's de-
cree their lord, supreme pontiff, and universal pope."*
Desiderius, however, failed to fulfil all his promises,
and, the pope having incited the Dukes of Bene-
vento and Spoleto to revolt and to seek the pro-
tection of the king of the Franks,^ he advanced
against them, marching through Pentapolis, pillag-
ing and devastating on every side. He even went
so far as to propose an alliance with the emperor
for the reconquest of Ravenna. At the same time
he met the pope in Rome, and after some negotia-

' Jaffe. vol. iv., p. 64 ; Ep. 11, a.d. 757.

" "Ann. Met.," an. 7156 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 333.

^ Jaffe, vol, iv., pp. 67. 68 ; Ep. 12, a.d. 757.

* Ibid., pp. 69-72 ; Ep. 13, A.D. 757.

5 Ibid., pp. 74, 75 ; Ep. 15, A.D. 758.

Papal Diplomacy, 153

tions for the delivery of the cities still held back,
Paul apparently consented to order a return of the
hostages whom Aistulf had given to Pippin. The
pope even sent a letter to Pippin, informing him
that his most excellent son, King Desiderius, had
come peaceably and with great humility to the
threshold of the apostles, promising to restore
Imola, one of the cities ; he therefore adjured Pip-
pin to confirm the peace with him and to send back
the hostages.' He sent a letter secretly at the same
time, in which he told Pippin of the proposed
league with the emperor, the devastation of the
Pentapolis, and the evil inflicted upon the Dukes
of Benevento and Spoleto, who had declared them-
selves his allies and had put themselves under the
protection of the Franks. He affirms his demand
for all the cities, and begs Pippin to stand firm and
not to yield to the perfidious trickster, and unblush-
ingly declares that the other letter was written to
deceive Desiderius, so that by seeming to comply he
might be able to send messengers declaring the true
state of affairs.'' Already the pope, by his attempt
to gain and hold his temporal sovereignty, was
plunged into the wiles and tricks of worldly diplo-
macy. A treaty was finally effected in 760, whereby
all the towns but one, Imola, were given up, and
the pope and Lombard king enabled to live in
friendly relations.

As we have seen, the pope continued nominally
at least to acknowledge the emperor, though he

' Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 75, 77; Ep. 16, a.d. 758.
' Ibid., pp. 77-83 ; Ep. 17, A.D. 758.

154 T^^^ ^i^ ^f Charlemagne,

ceased to await imperial confirmation for his elec-
tion, while the emperor no longer received tribute
from the Roman province, nor did any Byzantine
exercise official authority in the city. From this
time on, however, the temporal rule of the popes,
now for the first time formally and authoritatively
held, brings about local disputes and strifes. Mu-
nicipal rights and popular privileges demanded re-
cognition, while the office and position of the papacy
itself became an object of ambition and desire to
those seeking merely earthly power, position, and
wealth.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FINAL STRUGGLE OF THE LOMBARDS — THE
FORGED DONATION OF CONSTANTINE — THE
FRANKISH CONQUEST OF AQUITANIA — THE
AQUITANIAN CAPITULARY — ESTABLISHMENT OF
THE FRANKISH CHURCH AND THE DIOCESAN
AND METROPOLITAN SYSTEM — PIPPIN'S RE-
LATIONS WITH CONSTANTINOPLE AND WITH
BAGDAD.

HE year 756 was an epochal year in the
history of the papacy, for from it dates
the formal establishment of the temporal
power of the popes. The famous " Do-
nation of Constantine" was devised also
at about this same time, for it is closely connected
with the events then happening. The Lombards
were making their last strenuous endeavor to con-
quer and to unite all Italy in one great kingdom
under their own sway. Their aim, which, carried
out, would make them masters of Rome, and their
nearness to the city, made them more to be dreaded
than the distant Greeks, however oppressive at
times. Yet the emperor already was losing his hold
on Italy, and could no longer defend it, and to the

155

156 The Age of Charlemagne.

Franks the pope had turned with a new hope,
though not yet seeing his way clear to dispense alto-
gether with the Byzantine suzerainty. It even ap-
pears probable that Gregory II. had made an at-
tempt to form a confederation of States in Italy
with the pope at the head, but it had come to noth-
ing.' The idea remained, and the donation was put
forward to give it an historic basis, and to meet
what seemed to be the needs of the period.

The form of donation occurs at the end of a long
document purporting to be an edict of Constantine,
included by Pseudo-Isidore in his collection of
Decretals and printed in full by Hinschius in his
edition.' The author relates that Constantine more
than twenty years before his death was baptized at
Rome by Pope Sylvester, and at the same time
cured of leprosy.^ Constantine declares his accept-
ance of the faith, which the pope had taught him,
including a full statement of the doctrine of the
Trinity, and exhorts all people and nations to hold
the same. He then proceeds, out of gratitude and
reverence, to bestow upon the papal see imperial
power and honor, he gives to it the highest author-
ity over the other patriarchates, and all the other
churches in the world, as the supreme judge in all
matters of worship and of faith. To the pope, re-
fusing to wear the imperial diadem offered by Con-
stantine, he grants the tiara, specially designed for
him, and all the rest of the imperial ornaments and

' Dollinger, pp. 121, 122.

'^ Hinschius, pp. 249-254, cf. Preface, p. Ixxxiii.; Gieseler, vol.
ii., p. 118, note 21. Translated in Henderson, pp. 319-329.
' Dollinger, pp. 89-103.

A Roman Forgery. 157

insignia. Upon the Roman clergy arc conferred
the honors and dignities of the highest ofificers,
patricians and consuls, with all the privileges of
senators and their insignia. Constantine also gives
up the Lateran Palace, the remaining sovereignty
over Rome, all the provinces, cities, and places of
Italy, as well as of the western regions, transferring
the seat of his own imperial power to Byzantium,
afifirming that it was not right that the earthly em-
peror should have his seat where the heavenly em-
peror had established the principality of the priest-
hood and the head of the Christian religion.

The whole stupendous forgery, of which one does
not know what to marvel at most, the audacity of con-
ception or the credulity of reception, was undoubt-
edly the work of a Roman ecclesiastic at Rome.
It is most important as showing that the prevaiHng
idea in the mind of a Roman Churchman in the
eighth century was the desire to make the pope and
his clergy equal in magnificence and ceremonial to
the emperor.^

The first apparent reference to this donation oc-
curs in a letter written by Hadrian I. to Charles the
Great in JjZ,'' bringing it forward as a basis of ap-
peal to the king to emulate the deeds of the mighty
emperor.

Its application to islands as being public domain
was first made by Urban II. in his claim to Corsica.
By it Hadrian IV. made claim to Ireland, and there-
upon proceeded to make a grant of the island to

' Bryce, pp. 100-102 ; Gregorovius, ii., pp. 361, 362.
' Jaff6, iv., pp. 197-201, Ep. 61.

158 TJlc Age of Charlemagne.

Henry 11/ It continued to be used in these ways,
though with occasional opposition and some limita-
tion, but with increasing emphasis from the twelfth
to the fourteenth century.

Marsilius of Padua, in his Defensor Pads, turned
it against the popes by drawing from it the conclu-
sion that even the ecclesiastical supremacy of the
papacy rested on an imperial grant, and so was
merely human and invalid. Its spurious character
was proved most effectively by Reginald Pecock,
Bishop of Chichester, in the middle of the fifteenth
century, and also, though less ably, by Cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa and by Laurentius Valla. Since
then it has been universally given up. Dante, trac-
ing to it the origin of the temporal power, says of
its supposed author :

" Ah, Constantine ! of how much ill was mother,
Not thy conversion, but that marriage dower,
Which the first wealthy Father took from thee."*

Though there has been much speculation as to
the nature and extent of this power, and though
much was left indefinite owing to its unprecedented
character, some certain conclusions may be fairly
drawn from the facts.

First, Pippin did hand over to the pope the tem-
poral possession and sovereignty over the cities and
lands in question which had formerly been vested
in the emperor. This is proved by the fact that

* Hadrian's Bull is given in Lyttleton's "Henry H.," vol. iii.,
PP- 323. 324. translated in Henderson, pp. 10, 11. Also given in
Rymer's " Foedera," vol. i., p. 15.

' Dante, " Inferno," xix., 115-118. Longfellow's translation.

Facts Regarding the Temporal Pozvcr, 159

Pippin refused at the request of the emperor's en-
voys to give them over to the emperor, but said
that he should give them to the pope.

Secondly, the pope held and exercised this tem-
poral sovereignty. This is proved by the fact that
in a letter from the senate and people of Rome,
written to Pippin, they acknowledged themselves
to be the faithful subjects of the pope, and no
other authority than his and the officers of his ap-
pointment was recognized in these cities, the keys
of which had been given up to the Abbot Fulrad
and deposited in the shrine of St. Peter.

Thirdly, the emperor recognized that he had lost
the power over this territory. This is proved by the
fact of the proposed alliance between the emperor
and Desiderius in order to win back the exarchate.

As to the right of the pope to receive this power,
it has been well expressed by Gibbon :

In the rigid interpretation of the laws every
one may accept without injury whatever his bene-
factor may bestow without injustice. The Greek
emperor had abdicated or forfeited his right to the
exarchate ; and the sword of Aistolphus was broken
by the stronger sword of the Carolingian." ^

As to the expediency of holding this power and
the changes which it wrought in the future character
and activity of the papacy, history itself gives the
best answer, and the complete consideration of it
would require a separate treatise. It has been de-
fended by some and deprecated by others. It was
the first step and the chief instrument in freeing the
* Gibbon, " Roman Empire," ch. xlix.

i6o The Age of Charlemagne.

church from subservience to any earthly sovereign,
and gave it a position of power and influence Vv'hich
enabled it to protect and extend the work of the
church throughout Europe. On the other hand, its
dangers were great, and its results in many cases
were evil.

It brought about a secularization of the life and
aims of the popes and chief ofiflcers which extended
throughout the church, whereby it was involved in
the conflicts and the strifes of the other temporal
kingdoms. It made the papacy itself the coveted
object of strife and ambition, the centre of feuds
and jealousies, and the sport and prey of unworthy
men and parties. This wealth and power led to
an increase of pride, luxury, and ambition which
fostered evil and corruption in the papacy and set
an evil example to others. It was the fruitful
source of weakness and the real cause of downfall
and decay. There is a legend that on the occasion
of Constantine's donation an angel was said to have
cried from heaven : " Woe ! woe ! this day poison
hath been infused into the church." A contempo-
rary of Dante said that Constantine added to the
stole of the priests aswordw^hich they did not know
how to wield, and thus broke the strength of the
empire.'

In 768 an antipope was seated on the papal throne
by his brother Toto, duke in Nepi. Two of the
chief officers at Rome feigned a desire for the mo-
nastic life, and fled to Desiderius, bringing back a
Lombard army to put down the usurper. After
' Dollinger, pp. 167, 168.

Conquest of Aqiiitafiia. i6i

severe fighting, followed by an attempt to conse-
crate a Lombard, another Stephen was elected, and
the usurper and his followers severely punished.
Stephen IV. turned to Pippin for support and aid,
but Pippin had died on September 24th, 768. Dur-
ing the last years of his life he had been constantly
at war with the Duke of Aquitania. The Saxons
at first had taken his attention, but he had finally
subdued them, thrown down their strongholds,
forced them to pay an annual tribute of three hun-
dred horses and receive the Christian missionaries.

In 760 he attacked Waifar, Duke of Aquitania,
on the ground of his infringement of the rights and
property of the Prankish churches which were situ-
ated in Aquitania, as well as for other reasons.
Few battles were fought ; as soon as Pippin ap-
peared with his army, Waifar surrendered, only to
assert his independence as soon as Pippin withdrew
his forces. In 768, however, he had taken the
mother, sisters, and nieces of Waifar, and in June
the duke himself was killed — murdered, it was said,
by some at the instigation of Pippin. All Aquitania
submitted to him, and measures were at once taken
to solidify and unite the newly acquired territory.
Counts and judges were established, and the so-called
Aquitanian capitulary proclaimed that deserted
churches should be restored and their services con-
tinued by those who held the income of their prop-
erty, all needed for religious purposes not to be
alienated, and any taken to be restored. Bishops,
abbots, and abbesses to live in accordance with their
holy order. Provision was also made for the hold-

K

1 62 The Age of Charlemagne.

ing and proper care of benefices and regulations
for the comfort and convenience of those attending
the army or the Maifield. Right of appeal to the
king was secured, and the privilege of every man,
wherever he might be, to be tried by the law of his
own country. Lastly, none should presume to resist
whatever was decreed by the king's commissioners
and the elders of the land for the king's profit or the
welfare of the church.'

The internal regulation of ecclesiastical affairs
had gone on after the death of Boniface on the
lines laid down by him. In July, 755, a very im-
portant council was held at Verneuil, at which not
only nearly all the bishops of Gaul were present,
but Pippin himself was there, and took an interested
part in its discussions and decisions. By the pro-
visions of this council bishops were to be appointed
in each city who should be under the metropolitans,
each bishop to have rule over the clergy, both regu-
lar and secular, in his own diocese. Synods were
to be held twice a year : the first in March wher-
ever the king should appoint, and in his presence ;
the other in October, either at Soissons or wherever
tlie bishops agreed upon at the March synod. At
this synod all bishops under the metropolitans
should be present, and all others, whether bishops,
abbots, or presbyters, whom the metropolitans
summoned. The monastic rule should be observed
by monks and nuns under the orders of the bishop
of the diocese. If opposition arises the metropoli-
tan is to be notified, and if that fails, recourse may
' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 42, 43.

The Frankish C/mrc/i O^^ganized. 163

be had to the public synod held in March. In the
event of further refusal, the offender may be de-
posed or excommunicated by all the bishops and
another put in his place at the synod by the word
and will of the king or by the consent of the bish.
ops. There is to be no public baptistry in a dio-
cese save where the bishop appoints, but in case of
necessity or illness presbyters whom the bishop has
appointed may baptize wherever convenient. Pres-
byters are to be under the rule of the bishops, and
none is to baptize or to celebrate Mass without the
order of the bishop of the diocese. All presbyters
were to assemble at the council of the bishops. A
bishop may depose or excommunicate his presbyters
for cause. Being excommunicated, he cannot enter
a church nor eat nor drink with any Christian, nor
accept his gifts, nor give the kiss, nor unite in pray-
er, nor exchange greetings until reconciled with his
bishop. If any claims to be unjustly excommuni-
cated, he may go to the metropolitan and have a
new trial. If still unwilling to submit, he will be
forced into exile by the king. Canon XX. of Chal-
cedon is repeated forbidding to remove to another
city or to serve under a layman except in case of
necessity. Wandering bishops, without a fixed dio-
cese, shall not serve in any diocese nor ordain ex-
cept by the order of the bishop of the diocese.
Any offence against this rule is to be punished by
the synod. Sunday is to be kept, not after the
Jewish fashion of absolute idleness, but so as not to
interfere with going to church. But of this the
clergy and not the laity shall judge. All marriages,

164 The Age of Charlemagne,

both of nobles and low born, shall be performed
publicly. Clergy shall not administer estates nor
eno-acre in secular affairs except for churches,
widows, and orphans, by the order of the. bishop.
In case of the death of a bishop, his bishopric shall
not be left vacant more than three months except
by great and urgent necessity. Surely at the next
synod a bishop shall be ordained. No cleric shall
be tried by the laity except by the express order of
his bishop or abbot. All immunities are assured to
all the churches. Counts and judges at their courts
shall try first the cases of orphans, widows, and
churches, and others afterwards. No one shall at-
tain any office or rank in the church for money ;
nor shall any bishop, abbot, or layman take any fee
for administering justice.

This important document completed the estab-
lishment of the diocesan system throughout the
Prankish kingdom on the lines laid down by Boni-
face in the early synods held under Pippin and
Karlmann. It also established the system of met-
ropolitans. It will be noticed, however, that no
mention is made of the Bishop of Rome, and that
the higher authority in appeals and other matters
above the metropolitans rests with the synod and
in the last extreme with the king.'

Pippin's interests and relations, however, were
not confined to his own kingdom and the neighbor-
ing Lombards. In spite of the fact that he had re-
fused to hand over to the emperor the territory con-
quered for and given to the pope, his relations with
the emperor continued to be friendly, and in the

' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 32-37.

The New Mahometan Caliphate. 165

very next year (757) he received an embassy from
Constantinople bringing rich gifts, and among them
an organ, an instrument as yet unknown in Gaul and
the object of great admiration. In 765 he had sent
an embassy to Bagdad, and in the April before he
died his messengers had returned with envoys from
the court of Almansor, father of the famous Haroun
al Raschid. For, strange as it may seem, just at this
very time, when the final separation was beginning
to take place between the eastern and western parts
of the great Roman empire, and of the Christian
Church, when a new kingdom was rising in the
West about to have a line of emperors of its own,
and a separate ecclesiastical organization was grow-
ing up under the Pope of Rome as in the East under
the Patriarch of Constantinople, so in the great Ma-
hometan empire south of the Mediterranean a
mighty revolution had taken place. In 750 the
Ommiads, who for nearly a hundred years had held
the caliphate, ruling at Damascus, were overthrown
by the Abassides, who seized the caliphate, and soon
after, under Almansor, founded Bagdad and made
that the seat of power. One of the Ommiads, how-
ever, had escaped, and crossing through Africa and
the Straits of Gibraltar, had founded in 755 an inde-
pendent caliphate at Cordova. It was against the
adherents of this caliph and his successors that the
Franks were fighting, and thus it came to pass that
the king of the Franks found that he had a natural
ally in the Caliph of Bagdad, while the emperor at
Constantinople, at war with the Saracens at his own
doors, would be inclined to look with favor on their
rivals in the western caliphate.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ^VORK OF PIPPIN — HIS DEATH — DIVISION
OF THE KINGDOM BETWEEN CHARLES AND
KARLMANN — REVOLT OF THE AQUITANIANS —
FRANKISH ALLIANCE WITH THE LOMBARDS —
DEATH OF KARLMANN — CHARLES SOLE KING
— THE SUBJUGATION AND CONVERSION OF
SAXONY — EARLY SAXON MISSIONARIES.

HE work of Pippin was finished. The
church was estabHshed in an organized
and systematic form under abbots, bish-
ops, and metropoHtans throughout the
Prankish kingdom ; heathenism was
being gradually but surely eliminated within its
borders, while missions were extended and mis-
sionaries placed under royal protection among peo-
ples not yet converted to Christianity ; the papacy
was established at Rome over a spiritual and tem-
poral sovereignty under the protectorate of a new
line of Prankish kings ; the kingdom itself was uni-
fied and consolidated, and its principal parts, Aus-
trasia, Neustria, and last of all Aquitania, united
under one head ; and the people on its borders, the
Saxons, Bavarians, Lombards, and Saracens, reduced

1 66

Death of Pippin. 167

to submission or confined within fixed bounds,
which, on the south, were tlie Mediterranean Sea
and the Pyrenees Mountains. But the great king
did not Hve to enjoy this triumph. On his return
to Saintes, at the close of his successful campaign
against the Aquitanians, he was taken ill with fever.
At Tours he stopped to visit the shrine of St. Mar-
tin and to implore aid. His prayers were of no
avail, though accompanied with rich gifts to the
church and the poor. With his wife and sons,
Charles and Karlmann, he proceeded to Paris to the
monastery of St. Denis. Here, about the middle of
September, feeling that his end was near, he assem-
bled for the last time the nobles of his realm, dukes
and counts, bishops and clergy, and with their con-
sent divided his kingdom equally between his two
sons, who had been anointed with him, fourteen
years before, by the pope and had received the title
of Patricians of the Romans. On September 24th,
768, Pippin died, at the age of fifty-four, and was
buried at St. Denis. Much confusion exists as to
the division of his kingdom, and though little is
known much has been written.' It seems probable,
however, that the three parts of the kingdom, Neus-
tria, Aquitania, and Austrasia, with all the eastern
parts, were divided in such a way that each king
should have a part of each, that the unity of the
whole kingdom might be preserved and the separa-
tion of nationalities avoided. Thus each had both
Germans and Romans, though the former predomi-

* Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 95-98 ; Abel-Simson, vol. i., pp. 23-30 ;
Boehmer, vol. i., p. 49.

1 68 The Age of Charlemagne.

nated in the kingdom of Charles, and the latter in
the kingdom of Karlmann. It is possible that
Neustria was to be held by them both in common,
as it is not expressly named in the accounts of the
divisions, and at the formal coronation of the two
kings, which took place on the same day (October
9th), Charles was crowned at Noyon, and Karlmann
at Soissons, both cities in Neustria, not far apart.
The principle of division, which seems to us a very
unfortunate weakening of a unity established at
great cost and labor, was firmly established among
all the German peoples, had been invariably fol-
lowed by the Merovingians and continued by the
mayors of the palace. It did serve undoubtedly to
check civil war and dangerous conspiracies. So well
recognized was it that Stephen, in crowning Pip-
pin, had anointed both his sons at the same time.

Division here, however, as in the case of Pippin
before, was of short duration, for Karlmann did not
long survive his father, and in 771 Charles ruled
alone.

Hardly had the two kings begun to reign when
news came of the revolt of the Aquitanians. The
death of their duke, Waifer, seemed to have insured
their submission ; but the death of Pippin and the
division of the kingdom held out to them the hope
of independence. The old duke, Hunold, Waifer's
father, left the monastery in which he had taken
refuge after his defeat by Pippin and the murder of
his brother in 744, and headed the revolt which ex-
tended from Poitou to the Pyrenees. The wisdom
of Pippin's method of division was now apparent,

Reconciliation of CJiarlcs and Karlmann. 169

for both brothers hastened with their armies to put
down the revolt. Karlmann, however, soon re-
turned and left his brother to carry on the campaign
alone. Hun old was driven to seek refuge in Was-
conia, far in the south, but at the command of
Charles both he and his wife were delivered up to
the conqueror by Lupus, the duke of the Was-
conians. The revolt was at an end, and Charles
returned with his captives, who appear no more in
history. The relations between the brothers were
still more strained by Karlmann's desertion. The
latter had not been kindly disposed towards his
brother, whom he regarded as having no rights in
the kingdom, having been born before his father
became king, or perhaps before his father's mar-
riage. Charles felt his power and position threat-
ened, and at once made overtures to Tassilo, duke
of the Bavarians, and to Desiderius, king of the
Lombards. A reconciliation between the brothers
was effected by the queen-mother, Bertrada, and
the result was announced to the pope, who sent his
congratulations, glad to be relieved of the prospect
of an alliance between the Lombards and one of
the Prankish kings.'

But the danger was not wholly averted. Tassilo
was the son of the sister of Pippin, and consequent-
ly the cousin of Charles and of Karlmann. He had
been for some time practically independent of the
Prankish kingdom, and though he had taken the
oath of vassalage in 757, he had afterwards refused
his aid in the Aquitanian campaign, and Pippin had
' Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 155-158 ; Ep. 46, 769 a.d.

1 70 TJic Age of Charlemagne.

been too much engaged to force him to repent and
renew his oath. In the meantime he had married a
daughter of Desiderius, and formed a close poHtical
alliance with the Lombards. It was Bertrada's
plan to unite them all, and with this end in view
she restored friendly relations between the cousins
and proposed marriages between her sons and two
of the daughters of Desiderius, and between her
daughter Gisla and the son of Desiderius. When
the pope heard of this his rage knew no bounds,
and he gave a most emphatic expression to it in a
long letter which he wrote to the two brothers.'
The marriages of the two brothers to the Lombard
princesses seem to have taken place, but not of their
sister, and she was induced to give it up and enter
a convent.

Karlmann having died December 4th, 771, and
leaving only minor children without right to the
succession, Charles took possession of the rest of the
kingdom. Karlmann's widow and her children re-
tired to the court of her father, the Lombard king ;
and Charles, having decided to renounce alliance with
Desiderius, disowned his Lombard wife and sent
her back to her father.

Charles now began to give evidence of the policy
he intended to follow, and the greatness of his pur-
poses began to appear. The work of his ancestors
he took up and completed, and for a short time
united all of Western Europe in one great empire.
His reign lasted for more than forty years, and dur-
ing that time the world was filled with the renown
' Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 158-164 ; Ep. 47, 769 a.d.

Chaides the Great. 171

of his deeds. He increased on all sides the extent of
the Prankish kingdom, completed the union of the
German people, attacked and overthrew the enemies
of Western Christendom, cemented the relations
with the church, and more completely brought about
the union of the German elements with Christianity,
thereby giving to the Western world a new form and
preparing for the German people a great future.

His deeds are alike significant, whether regarded
from the standpoint of general European history or
of German history alone. Even the earliest chroni-
clers give him the title of '' Great," though it was
not at first a formal surname. By the French it has
been incorporated into his own name, and he is gen-
erally known as Charlemagne.

Of his early life we catch only the slightest
glimpses in a few stray notices in connection with
his father. He was born April 2d, 742, and re-
ceived the anointing by the pope in 754, was
crowned in 768, became sole king in 771, and
reigned until his death in 814. During this long
reign he was engaged in fifty-five campaigns, eigh-
teen of them against the Saxons. In all he showed
great powers of command, quickness of foresight
and of judgment, rapidity and force in execution,
prudence and tact in management. In order to ac-
complish this result he reorganized the army, unit-
ino- the military service due from vassals with the
liability of each freeman.

His relations with the church are of the greatest
importance and interest ; he had been the one to
meet the pope and escort him to his father when

The Age of Charlemagne.

Stephen had crossed the Alps, and, with his broth-
er, he had been anointed with the holy oil, and re-
ceived the title of Patrician of the Romans. From
that time on everything which he undertook and
accomplished stood in the closest connection with
the authority and influence of the church which had
its centre in Rome. By his efforts Christianity was
extended and the church protected ; he also received
its support in his undertakings, and it acknowledged
him as its lord protector and intercessor. All eccle-
siastical affairs, questions of constitution and of
discipline, as well as of doctrine, he took into con-
sideration, and through him they found settle-
ment and decision, sometimes without, or even in
opposition to, the Roman bishop. He stood as
head of the church in his own kingdom. Alcuin
calls him " Pontifex," the monk of St. Gall,
" Bishop of the Bishops." The bishops of that
time saw in him not only the mighty protector of
the church, but also their reformer and supreme
governor. Contemporaries regarded him as the
preserver and father of Christianity. He calls him-
self the defender of the holy church, and in all
things the aid of the apostolic see. He still further
developed and strengthened the union with the
papacy established by his predecessors. In this
connection his contests with the Saxons and with
the Lombards deserve careful consideration.

His wars with the Saxons were of the greatest
importance to Christianity and to the church. Liv-
ing far in the North, as yet uninfluenced by Roman
armies, art, or religion, the Saxons still dwelt on

The Saxons, \ 73

the banks of the Elbe, by the shores of the North-
ern Sea, wild, barbarous, careless of danger, and
enemies alike to civilization, to Christianity, and to
the Franks. While the other German peoples, the
Lombards, Goths, and Vandals, left their original
homes to wander south and east and west in the
great Volkerwanderung of the fourth century, the
Saxons had only enlarged their borders and taken
up the lands thus left. Some of their tribes, invit-
ed by greed of gain and impelled by increasing
numbers, had crossed to Britain in the fifth and
sixth centuries and founded England ; but the rest,
Westphalians, Angarians, and Eastphalians, abode
still in the North until they extended from the
Eider to the union of the Fulda and the Werra, and
from the Elbe and Saale to the Rhine. There they
remained like a mighty reservoir of water threaten-
ing to overflow its bounds and with a sweeping
flood to engulf the country.

Little had they changed since Tacitus wrote of
them from what he learned of their nearer tribes.
They were not a nation or a people, but merely
great federations of tribes, each tribe or gau ac-
knowledging a head or leader of the host, who exer-
cised religious, military, and judicial authority, sev-
eral uniting under a chosen leader in time of great
need, for defence or for attack.

A general description of the long and cruel war
which Charles waged cannot be given in any clearer
way than in the words of Einhard in his " Life of
Charles the Great."

" No war ever undertaken by the Franks was car-

1 74 The Age of Charlemagne.

ried on with longer persistence, more bitterness, or
greater labor, because the Saxons, like most of the
other tribes of Germany, were fierce by nature,
given up to the worship of evil spirits, and opposed
to our religion, not deeming it dishonorable to
transgress and violate all law, human and divine.
There were other circumstances, also, which led to a
breach of the peace every day, for our frontiers and
theirs were almost everywhere contiguous in an open
country, and it was only at rare intervals that dense
forests or mountain ridges defined clearly the
boundary limits and kept the two peoples apart.
Consequently along the whole frontier murders,
thefts, and arsons w^ere being perpetrated constantly
on both sides. These outrages so irritated the
Franks that they resolved to be content no longer
with mere retaliation, but to declare open war
against them.

" Once begun, the war went on for thirty-three
years, although it might have been ended sooner
had it not been for the faithlessness of the Saxons.
It would be difficult to tell how many times, con-
quered and submissive, they put themselves at the
king's mercy and swore obedience to his commands,
giving without delay the hostages^ required, and
received the officers sent them by the king. Some-
times they were so weakened and subdued that they

' Among these were youths whom Charles entrusted to various
monasteries to be brought up and educated in the Christian
religion, and whom afterwards he sent back to preach the gospel
in their own land. It is interesting to note that among such was
Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims. the " Apostle of Denmark" and
the reputed author of the forged Decretals. See translatio S. Viti.
M. G. SS., vol. ii.

The Saxon War. 175

promised to renounce the worship of evil spirits and
to accept Christianity, but they were just as ready
to break these agreements as they were to make
them. Indeed, after the war be<^an, hardly a year
passed without such evidence of fickleness on their
part. But the great courage and determined reso-
lution of the king, unflinching alike in success and
in defeat, kept him unmoved by their inconstancy,
and steadfast in the accomplishment of his purposes.
He never allowed their perfidy to go unpunished,
but after such breach of faith he himself or one of his
counts led an army against them to wreak vengeance
and to inflict upon them a just punishment. At
last, after a final victory, he took ten thousand with
their wives and children and scattered them in a
thousand different places in Gaul and in Germany.

'' Thus they were brought to accept the terms of
the king, in accordance with which they abandoned
their demon worship, renounced their national relig-
ious customs, embraced the Christian faith, received
the divine sacraments, and were united with the
Franks, forming one people." '

Treachery and revolt, the destruction of churches,
and killing of priests and of missionaries may be at-
tributed to the Saxons, but they were fighting for
home and liberty against a foreign invader ; cruelty
and savage butchery characterized the warfare of
the Franks ; but they were fighting for the spread
of civilization and of Christianity, and though the
greatness of Charles appears here also, yet from the
midst of the Saxon warriors looms up the magnifi-

' EinJiard, "Vita Karoli," c. 7 ; Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 515, 516.

I 76 The Age of Charlemagne.

cent form of their great leader, Wittekind, one of
the noblest of the heathen heroes, while the Saxons
have left us no chronicles setting forth the glory
and the justice of their cause.

A few details are worth our notice. At the very
beginning of the struggle the destruction by Charles
of the Irmensaul — a sacred object connected with
their worship — the burning of a Christian church,
and the driving away of the missionaries by the Sax-
ons showed the bitterness underlying the struggle.
It was darkness resisting the oncoming light ; bar-
barism attempting to stay the progress of order
and civilization ; the old heathenism opposing the
spreading Christianity. Gradually the strongholds
of the Saxons were wrenched away, new ones built,
and Prankish garrisons placed in them. In yyG, the
chronicler relates :

" The Saxons, all greatly terrified, coming from
every side, surrendered and promised to be Chris-
tians, submitting to the rule of King Charles and of
the Franks. In the next year," he continues, " a
multitude of the Saxons were baptized, and, accord-
ing to their custom, gave up all their free and allo-
dial lands as a pledge that they would not revolt
again, according to their evil custom, but would
ever keep their Christianity and their fidehty to
the lord King Charles, his sons, and the Prankish
people." '

The Mayfield of this year {777) was held at Pader-
born, in the heart of the Saxon country. The
whole military host with both the Prankish and the
' "Ann. Lauriss," an. 776, 777 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., pp. 156-158.

Saxons Conquered and Baptized. 177

Saxon leaders was gathered there. The coiuh'lions
hiid down for peace and the reception to equal rights
with the Franks were the accepting of Christianity
and the obligation of military service by the Saxons.
Partly by force, partly by persuasion, and partly
by offers of gifts and rewards, they were induced to
accept Christianity and to be baptized. On the
banks of the Lippe, in the presence of the king, the
Prankish clergy and all the Prankish army, the
whole Saxon nation was baptized. It was an im-
pressive and significant sight, but it was of pro-
phetic rather than of actual significance. The host-
ages were put in charge of the bishops and counts
of the realm, and Saxon noblemen were won over
to the Prankish service. The conquered district
was divided and assigned to bishops, priests, and
abbots, who established monasteries, preached and
baptized. An army was assembled and Saxon
nobles put in command, and counties were estab-
lished with Saxon counts.

At an assembly held in 782 a special set of capitu-
laries was enacted for the newly added Saxon sub-
jects, by which Christianity and the Prankish rule
were together established and confirmed. These
capitularies are interesting and valuable for the light
they throw upon the methods of establishing Chris-
tianity in a new country and among a heathen peo-
ple. They declare that Christian churches are to
have as much honor as the old heathen temples ;
are to be places of refuge and protected from vio-
lence and robbery ; the Lenten fast to be observed,
and death to be the punishment for eating meat

L

lyS The Age of Charlemagne.

except in case of necessity. The murder of a
bishop, priest, or deacon is also punishable by death
without allowing the payment of the wergeld. The
eld heathen practices connected with cremation, the
burning of men possessed by devils, and also the
human sacrifices of heathenism are forbidden. Re-
fusal to be baptized is also punishable by death.
Participation in pagan plots against Christians, un-
faithfulness to the king, violence done to the daugh-
ter of a lord, the killing of a lord or lady are pun-
ishable in the same manner. " But if for these
mortal crimes, secretly committed, any one shall go
of his own will to the priest and make a confession
and do penance, he shall be released on the testi-
mony of the priest," Provision is made for a house
and land connected with each church and for the
number of servants furnished to the priest in pro-
portion to the population. Church tithes are also
required, including property and labor, binding on
noble and on peasant alike. No assembly or public
courts to be held on Sunday except under great
necessity or in time of war, " but all shall go to
church and hear the Word of God and take part in
prayer and religious deeds." The same law shall
be observed on the great festival days. Children
must be baptized within their first year, and for
neglect nobles shall pay a fine of one hundred and
twenty solidi ; freemen, sixty ; and serfs, thirty.
Marriages taking place within prohibited degrees
are punishable by fine. Worship at fountains or
trees, or in groves connected with the old heathen
worship, was to be punished with a heavy fine, and

Saxon Capitularies. i 79

service is to be rendered to the church until the fine
is paid. The bodies of Christian Saxons are to be
placed in church cemeteries and not in pagan tombs.
Robbers and malefactors fleeing from one county
to another shall be given up, and any one receiving
them for more than seven days falls under the royal
ban. No one is to be prevented from going to the
king for justice. Gifts and rewards shall not be
taken against the innocent, and any one giving a
pledge or security shall be allowed to redeem it.
Peace must be maintained between the counts, and
all oaths must be kept. Perjury is to be punished
according to the law of the Saxons. Public games
and assemblies of the Saxons are forbidden unless
allowed by the royal commissioner under royal com-
mand. But each count may hold pleas and admin-
ister justice in his own district and " let the priest
see that justice is done." ^

Additional capitularies were set forth in 797 at a
council at which w^ere assembled bishops, abbots,
counts, and Saxons from the Westphalians, Anga-
rians, and Eastphalians, meeting at Aix-la-Chapelle
in October. Peace was declared for churches,
widows, orphans, and weak persons. No one was to
remain away from the army. The former laws
against offences were repeated save that the penalty
was changed from death to heavy fines. Refusal to
go to the assembly was also punishable by fine, and
injuries done to priests or their dependents were
to be atoned for by double restitution. A. threefold
payment was to be made for killing a royal commis-

^ Boretius, vol, i., pp. 68-70, No. 26.

I So The Age of Charlemagne.

sioncr. Punishments were also decreed against
various offences, and in conclusion the value of the
solidus was laid down in cattle and honey.' Thus
these capitularies mark the establishment of the
Prankish power and of the Christian church among
the Saxons.

The earlier measures which Charles had used to
subdue the Saxons had been neither harsh nor cruel.
He wished to effect a recognition of his rule and
the reception of Christianity, not the complete sub-
jugation of the people nor the destruction of its in-
dividuality ; but he had no time to waste in waiting
for the slow maturing of his plans, and he allowed
no scruples to stand in the way of the immediate
fulfilment of his purposes.

Finding the Saxons still resisting, still treacher-
ous, in consequence of a new and sudden outbreak
under their leader, Wittekind, he caused forty-five
hundred of them to be put to the sword in one day.
This was the massacre of Verden, in the year 782,
and it has been called the one great blot on the
memory of the great king. But even this was not
enough ; and if his conquest of the Saxons was
justifiable at all he knew better than any one else
the means necessary to accomplish the result ; only
it seems as if it would have been more in accordance
with his Christian faith and the powers of the gos-
pel, which he had at his disposal, had he employed
the soldiers of the cross rather than the spears of his

' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 71, 72, No. 27. The solidus was de-
clared equal to a year-old calf of either sex. In silver, twelve
pennies made a solidus, or shilling. It is estimated as worth
about eighteen dollars in our money. Vetault, p. 214.

Revolt Under Wittekind. i8i

army to bring the Saxons to submission to Christ
and to a union with the Frankish kingdom.

Under Wittekind, the Saxon leader, who had
never submitted to Charles, and who led the attack
in 782 which was avenged by the massacre of Ver-
den, the Saxons rose in revolt, renounced their
Christianity and their oaths of allegiance, but in two
great battles which followed speedily — the only two
pitched battles of the war — they were thoroughly
defeated ; although twenty long years of brutal vio-
lence and oppression passed before the end could
come. The strife which here was waged has a most
tragic interest. One cannot deny sympathy to this
people who, with such devotion to their inherited
order and independence, fought for the gods of
their hearths and homes, while the Frankish king by
his bloody deed chills the ardor which up to this
point has attended him. But the higher justifica-
tion of history is, after all, on his side. One must
deplore the fact that here, as so often in the prog-
ress of earthly affairs, results can be obtained only
by means of force. Yet there can be no doubt that
the opposition of the Saxons had to be overcome ;
their isolated independence must be broken if the
German people were to experience a higher unified
development. The chronicler concludes his account
of the year 785 thus :

" The Saxons then surrendered, again received
Christianity, which they had renounced just be-
fore ; peace was declared ; rebellion ceased ; and
Charles returned to his home. It is said that Witte-
kind, the author of so much violence and the insti-

1 82 The Age of Charlemagne.

gator of the perfidy, came with his followers to the
palace at Attigny and was there baptized, the king
receiving him from the font and presenting him
with magnificent gifts. From the death of Pope
Gregory, who had begun the work of converting
the Saxons by his mission to Britain, it had been one
hundred and eighty years." *

The rest of the history of Wittekind is lost in leg-
end and obscurity with the names of Roland and of
Arthur.

Though conquered, the Saxons were not subdued ;
and baptisms, payment of tithes, and services in
the royal army were enforced only with diiificulty,
the penalty of death being declared against all who
refused to be baptized, did violence to the clergy,
ate meat in Lent, relapsed into heathen customs,
or robbed or burned a church.

Far in the North rebellion broke out anew in 792.
Once more they renounced the Christianity which
was still to them the badge of their hated subjec-
tion to the Franks. They burned their churches
and drove off or put to death their priests. The
revolt spread, and in 794 Charles prepared to meet
it. With his son, Prince Charles, he led his whole
army to the Saxon frontier, received again the sub-
mission, the hostages, and the oaths of the terrified
Saxons. But on the banks of the Elbe the king's
authority was still resisted. Here he commanded a
complete devastation, and after putting thousands
of warriors to the sword, he ordered the removal of

■ "Ann. Lauriss," an. 785 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 32.

Deportation of Saxons. 183

one third of the remaining male population — over
seven thousand it is said.'

The next year saw the devastation carried still
further, and yet the resistance was continued in the
almost inaccessible region between the Weser and
the Elbe ; but Charles was not to be foiled in liis
purpose. Vessels were sent around by sea and
others in sections transported over the land. Fire
and the destruction of everything destructible fol-
lowed. Now every third man, with his wife and
children, here and in Friesland, was ordered into
exile, and loyal Franks were put in their places.

It was at this time that the capitulary of 797 was
put forth in which a much milder policy was ob-
served, and the voice and influence of Alcuin
seemed to avail. In a letter to the royal chamber-
lain, after instancing the manner and methods of
St. Paul, he had written : " Let but the same pains
be taken to preach the easy yoke and the light bur-
den of Christ to the obstinate people of the Saxons
as are taken to collect the tithes from them or to
punish the least transgression of the laws imposed
on them, and perhaps they would be found no
longer to repel baptism with abhorrence." ^

Winter was spent in the North, and the influence
of example and Christian ways was added to the
laws and precepts. But another revolt by the
Northalbingians — the Saxons on the banks of the
Weser — threatened to undo all that had been
achieved. Again submission was forced at the

' "Ann. Alam.,"an, 795 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 47.
' Ep. 37. Quoted by Neander, vol. iii., p. 77.

184 The Age of Charlemagne.

point of the sword and a new and larger deportation
followed. In 804 the last blow was given to the
dying cause of Saxon heathenism and indepen-
dence. Charles went North with his family and a
large army. The army, with the allies who joined
him there, was divided into sections and sent into
various districts of the enemy's territory. When
they returned they left nothing behind them.
Baptism by the priests or death by the soldiers was
the only alternative, and the baptism of a few was
purchased by the death of many. It has rightly
been called the conversion of Saxony rather than of
the Saxons. The men, women, and children who
esaped the sword were driven out and scattered
over the Prankish dominions. It is said that the
blood of over two hundred thousand Saxons
changed the very color of the soil, and the brown
clay of earlier times gave way to the red earth of
Westphalia. This ended the conquest and conver-
sion of Saxony. What that conversion meant and
what it was worth seems hardly an appreciable
quantity, and perhaps amounted to nearly nothing
after it was all over ; but succeeding generations
were to profit by that mighty struggle, for the Sax-
ony which had come to Charles the Great only after
such bloodshed and bitter agony, at the beginning
of the ninth century, sent forth a Luther to defy a
Charles the Fifth at the beginning of the sixteenth
century.

The missionary work closely connected with and
depending upon the labors of the army deserves
more careful attention. It is for this that Charles

The Enlightencr of the Saxo7is. 185

has been called by one of the early writers " The
Enlightener of the Saxons." Little could be done
in the time of actual warfare except in a merely
formal and mechanical way ; but as fast as a district
was conquered it was assigned for Christian over-
sight and culture to individual clergy, to an abbot,
or bishop, or priest to carry on the preliminary
work of preaching and baptizing. As soon as
churches were organized they were brought into
union with Prankish monasteries and bishoprics in
order to insure their proper care, or else an abbey
was put in charge of the missionary, that it might
serve as a point of support or means of sustenance.
With the progress of the conversion, however, na-
tive Saxons were consecrated bishops and special
places selected for their sees. In this way Charles
laid the foundations for Bremen, Werden, Miinster,
Paderborn, Osnabruck, and Minden, some of them
being put under the Archbishop of Mainz and some
under Cologne. A monastery was planned for
Hamburg ; and under Charles's successors the bishop-
rics of Hildesheim and Halberstadt were established.
In the last years of Charles's reign preaching and
baptism were carried to all parts of the Saxon land,
and under his successors they obtained complete
control. With Christianity went a new and higher
civilization, for men w^ere attracted in large numbers
and came to settle near these bishoprics and monas-
teries for safety and protection. Markets were es-
tablished, roads built from one to another, and
they soon became important centres of industry,
trade, and civilization.

1 86 The Age of Charlemagne.

Foremost among the missionaries were Gregory
of Utrecht, the abbot Sturm, both disciples and fol-
lowers of Boniface ; Luidger, who succeeded Labu-
inus, and Willehad.

One of the earliest and most important missiona-
ries among the people of the North was Gregory,
known as the Abbot of Utrecht. The way in which
he came under the influence of Boniface and en-
tered upon the work of his life is exceedingly inter-
esting and instructive. Boniface, on a journey from
Friesland to Thuringia, stopped at the monastery
of the abbess Addula, who was of a noble family.
During the meal-time her grandson, Gregory, a boy
of fourteen years, just out of school, acted as reader
and read some passages from the Bible. Boniface
praised him for reading so well, and asked him to
translate it into his own language. This he was
unable to do, and Boniface accordingly translated
and explained the passages in a way that made a
great impression upon the young boy. His desire
to know Boniface better and to learn more from the
great man led him to devote himself to the great
work in which Boniface was engaged. The abbess,
to whom Boniface was unknown at that time, tried
to dissuade the boy, but without avail. He even
declared that he would follow Boniface on foot if she
would not give him a horse. She was forced to
yield to his urgent entreaties ; and from that time
on he was a devoted and constant companion to
Boniface, in whose service and under whose inspira-
tion he labored in Friesland until the death of his
master.

Frankish Missionaries. 187

The Bishop of Utrecht having been martyred with
Boniface, Gregory took upon himself the whole care
of the Friesland mission, under the direction of Pope
Stephen and King Pippin. He refused the bish-
opric, however, and shortly afterwards became abbot
of the monastery in Utrecht, to which were sent
boys of English, Frankish, Bavarian, and Saxon
birth, whose education Gregory supervised. He
also founded a missionary school, from which mis-
sionaries went forth into different parts. To sup-
ply the want of a bishop, he was joined by Alubcrt,
an Englishman, who had been consecrated bishop
at home. Gregory lived to the age of over seventy,
and died in 781 in the midst of his teachings and
missionary labors.

The abbot Sturm was early consecrated to Chris-
tian service under the training of Boniface while
the latter was organizing the church in Bavaria.
After his ordination as priest he labored three years
under the immediate direction of Boniface, and then
went north with two companions to find a new cen-
tre of missionary labor in the wilderness. The
foundations of the monastery of Hersfeld were laid,
but Boniface regarded it as too exposed to the rav-
ages of the Saxons. He accordingly started forth
again, and this time founded Fulda, in which Boni-
face evinced a special interest and for which he pro-
cured special privileges from the pope, it being de-
clared independent of episcopal jurisdiction and
subject directly to the pope. Sturm then went to
Italy to learn further details of his duty from the
monasteries there, particularly from the original

1 88 The Age of CJiarlemagne.

Benedictine establishment at Monte Cassino. On
his return he increased the number of monks to
four thousand, and labored to reclaim both forests
and heathens. Though driven away from time to
time by the Saxons, he never despaired, and labored
earnestly and successfully until his death at the
close of the year 779.

Luidger, born of Christian parents, came under
the influence and training of Gregory, Abbot of
Utrecht, one of the early laborers in Friesland.
From 'there he went to the school of Alcuin, al-
ready famous at York. Returning, he still con-
tinued to labor among the Friesians until, by the
revolt of the Saxons under Wittekind, he and his
clergy were driven away, their churches burned, and
the idol temples restored. He then took advantage
of the opportunity to go. to Rome and to Monte
Cassino to observe the methods there, and to gain
further training and instruction.

Returning after three years, he found Wittekind
converted and the country at peace. Charles as-
signed him to a special district among the Friesland-
ers, where he founded the monastery of Werden.
After the conclusion of the Saxon war he Avas sent
by Charles to the district of Miinster, where he
founded another monastery, later the bishopric of
Miinster. He journeyed constantly among the
Saxons, preaching, baptizing, founding churches,
and settling over them priests whom he himself had
trained. His zeal would have carried him to the still
wild and barbarous Normans, but Charles forbade it.
In the midst of his labors, in the year 809, he died.

Charles and the Missionaries. 189

Willehad was a missionary who came from North-
umberland. He also labored among the people of
Friesland, near where Boniface had been martyred.
His followers having attempted with inconsiderate
zeal the immediate destruction of the heathen tem-
ples, he, with them, was seized and beaten and al-
most put to death by the sword. Hearing of his
courage, zeal, and wonderful escapes, Charles as-
signed him the district of Bremen, which later be-
came a bishopric among the Frieslandcrsand newly
conquered Saxons. But the revolt of Wittekind in
782 drove him avv^ay, and he also took the oppor-
tunity to visit Rome. After his return and the con-
version of Wittekind, the great Saxon leader, in 785,
he carried his labors to success, and the diocese of
Bremen was established in 787 with Willehad as its
priest and bishop, but two years afterwards he died.

Thus these noble Christian missionaries labored,
thus Christian teaching followed the progress of the
sword of the Franks, and thus Charles the Great
directed not only the victories of war, but the exten-
sion of Christianity and the establishment of the
church.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE LOMBARD MARRIAGES — REPUDIATION OF HIS
LOMBARD WIFE BY CHARLES — POPE HADRIAN
AND THE LOMBARD WAR — CONQUEST OF THE
LOMBARDS — CHARLES ENTERS ROME — KING
OF THE LOMBARDS — THE SECOND DONATION
TO THE POPE — ADDITIONAL POWERS AS PA-
TRICIAN— POPE LEO AND HIS ACCUSERS —
THE OATPI BEFORE CHARLES — CORONATION
OF CHARLES.

T is necessary to know the main outlines
of the conquest of the Saxons and the
extension of the Prankish power over
them in order to understand the spread
of Christianity and the estabhshment of
ihe Christian Church in the northern part of the
kingdom. It is also necessary to know the outlines
of the conquest of the Lombards in order to under-
stand the relations of Charles with the papacy.

Desidcrius, the Lombard king, by the marriages
of his daughters, had allied himself to all the leading
princes of his time. Tassilo, the son and successor
of Odilo, duke of the Bavarians, had married one
named Liutperga, Arichis, the Duke of Benevento,

190

Papal Description of the Lombard A lliancc. 1 9 1

another, Adelperga, and Charles and his brother
Karlmann had married the other two, Desiderata
and Gerberga.' Athalgis, the son of Dcsiderius,
had married Gisla, the sister of the Prankish kings.
On hearing the news of this alliance of the P^ ranks
and Lombards the pope was filled with indignation
and alarm. In view of such an alliance what would
become of the newly established power of the
papacy, the patrimony of St. Peter ? The already
threatened subjection of the pope to the Lombard
king seemed inevitable. Stephen accordingly wrote
at once to those whom he addresses as his " most
excellent sons, Charles and Karlmann, kings of the
Franks and patricians of the Romans." Their in-
tention to marry the daughters of Desiderius he
regards as a suggestion of the devil, and inciden-
tally alludes to the garden of Eden. " It would be
a most shameful connection and downright madness
for the illustrious race of the Franks, which shines
forth superior to all people, so splendid, so noble,
and of regal power, to pollute itself with the perfid-
ious race of the Lombards, leprous, vile, and not
recognized among the races of men. No one with
a sane mind would suspect for a moment that such
renowned kings would defile themselves with such
a despicable and abominable contagion." He re-
minds them of the beautiful wives they already had,
most noble maidens of the Frankish race.'' " Re-
member this, most excellent sons," he continues,

' " Chronic. Cassineus," bk. i., c. 17. See Mombert, p. 77, note 2.
"^ It is probable that these Frankish marriages had not taken
place or that the wives had died.

192 The Age of Charlemagne.

" that our predecessor of sacred memory, Stephen
the lord pope, implored your father of most excel-
lent memory never to presume to put away his wife,
your mother ; and he, as in truth a most Christian
king, yielded obedience to these most salutary ad-
monitions. Your excellency should remember that
you have promised to the blessed Peter and to his
aforesaid vicar and successors to be friends to our
friends and enemies to our enemies. Why do you
strive to act against your own souls in wishing to
form a union with our enemies, even with that per-
jured race of the Lombards, ever fighting against
the church of God and invading this, our province of
the Romans, and thus proved to be our enemies ?
Know you not that it is not our unhappiness you
despise, but the blessed Peter, Avhose unworthy vicars
we are permitted to be ? For it is written, * He who
receiveth you receiveth Me, and he who despiseth
you despiseth Me,' wherefor also the blessed Peter,
prince of the apostles, to whom the Lord God has
given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and to
whom has been granted the power of binding and
loosing in heaven and on earth, earnestly implores
your excellency through our unhappiness, and at
the same time also we, together with all the bishops,
presbyters, and other priests, and all the officials
and clergy of our holy church, and also the abbots
and all those consecrated to the divine service in
the religious life, as well as the nobles and judges,
and all our people of the Romans of this province,
beseech you with an appeal to the divine justice, by
the living and true God, who is the judge of living

Queen Hildegard, 193

and of dead, by the ineffable power of His divine
majesty, by the awful day of future judgment when
we shall behold all the pnnces and powers of the
whole human race standing with fear, as well as by
the divine mysteries and by the most holy body of
the blessed Peter, adjure you that in no way either
of you presume to receive in marriage the daughter
of the already mentioned Desiderius, king of the
Lombards." '

Whether these words of the pope influenced him
or not, within a year Charles divorced the daughter
of Desiderius, sent her back to her father, and im-
mediately after married a Suabian princess by the
name of Hildegard, a woman of rare beauty, bright
intellect and attractive grace, benevolent, devout,
and beloved by all, worthy to be the wife of Charles
and the mother of his children.

Mombert relates the following story, told by the
monk of St. Gall. A certain young man, in whom
the king took an interest, and whose hopes he had
raised as to securing a vacant bishopric, happened to
be with him at the hour set for the reception of cour-
tiers. The king told him that he had many com-
petitors for the vacancy, and bade him retire behind
a curtain and learn their number. One by one the
nobles came to secure the position, either for them-
selves or for some special favorite. At last Queen
Hildegard appeared and asked it for her own chap-
lain. The king objected, protesting that although
he would not and could not say nay to her in al-
most anything she might ask, yet in this case he
1 Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 158-164; Ep, 47, 769 A. D.

M

194 ^^'^^ ^^S^ ^f Charlemagne.

must refuse, for he had promised the place to the
young man. The queen, who was not free from the
weakness of women of setting their influence against
the judgment of men, suppressed her anger, but
forthwith opened upon her susceptible spouse a bat-
tery of gentle speeches and languid looks, saying :
" Oh, my lord king, why waste that bishopric upon
such a boy ? Let me entreat my sweet king, my
glory, my tower of strength, to confer it upon your
faithful servant, my own chaplain." The young
man, from behind the curtain, saw and heard what
was going on, dreaded the worst, and unable to
contain himself, exclaimed : " Keep firm, O king,
and let no one deprive you of the power which God
has given you." The speech pleased Charles so
much that for the time he disobliged the charmer
and made the young man bishop.^

The repudiation of Desiderata roused the anger
and resentment of her father, in which Tassilo, duke
of the Bavarians, and also Karlmann joined. The
hostility between the two brothers revived, but in
that same year (771) Karlmann died. His wife and
her children went back to the Lombard court, and
Charles reigned alone. In a letter from Cuthwulf,
written to Charles about the year 775, it is declared
that he is to be congratulated for eight things :
First, that he is born of royal lineage ; secondly,
that he is the first born ; thirdly, that he is deliv-
ered from the plots of his brother ; fourthly, that
he obtained the kingdom with his brother ; fifthly,

^ " Monach. Sangall.," bk. 1., c. iv.; Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 633-635 ;
Mombert, pp. 81, 82.

The Lombard War. igr

and not least, that God removed his brother from
the throne and exalted him over the whole kingdom
without bloodshed ; sixthly, the flight of the Lom-
bard army before his face ; seventhly, the crossing of
the Alps, the flight of his enemies, and the taking
of the rich city of Pavia with all its treasures ; and
eighthly, the entrance into golden and imperial
Rome.*

In Jjz a new pope, Hadrian I., succeeded to the
pontificate. The way was now prepared for the
development of more cordial relations and for a
closer alliance between the king of all the Franks
and the Bishop of Rome. Desiderius, however,
tried to win the pope to his own side in an alliance
against Charles, but did not succeed, though he
made a strong appeal in behalf of the widow of
Karlmann, who had fled to him with her children,
and he even marched to Rome. Hadrian at once
called for the removal of the leader of the Lombard
party in Rome and appealed to Charles, informing
him that the king of the Lombards had asked him
to anoint the son of Karlmann as king to succeed
his father, and, upon his refusal, had seized the
cities of Taenza, Ferrara, and Comacchio. Charles
responded by sending ambassadors to Desiderius
demanding the return of these cities to the pope,
and offering an indemnity for their restoration.
Upon his refusal Charles declared war as the pro-
tector of the church, and started for Italy with a
large army.'

' Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 336-338.

' "Ann. Einhardi," an. 773 ; M. G. SS., vol. i,, p. 151.

196 The Age of CJiarlemagne.

Desiderius shut himself up in Pavia, but his vas-
sals and followers were sadly demoralized before the
array of the Prankish army. The siege of Pavia
lasted all v/inter, during which time town after town
and lord after lord yielded to Charles. In the
spring of the next year, 774, leaving the continu-
ance of the siege to his followers, Charles accepted
the invitation of the pope and entered Rome, the
first of the Prankish kings to enter the imperial
city, which, however, he visited four times. ^

His reception was magnificent. The Senate and
nobles went out to meet him, and at the request of
Hadrian he appeared in the Roman costume, which
he wore but twice in his life, the second time being
in the memorable year of 800. His approach was a
triumphal march. As he neared the gates he dis-
mounted, and, followed by his officers, entered the
city on foot, and ascended the steps of St. Peter's,
kissing each step. At the top Hadrian, with his
clergy, met him. They kissed each other, and,
walking together, the king on the right of the pope,
proceeded to the altar.

On the next day, Easter, April 3d, he received
communion from the pope, and on Wednesday in
Easter week he is reported to have confirmed the
grant of territory made by his father to Pope Ste-
phen, " increasing it by further donations in antici-
pation of the fruits of his victory," wrote the papal
biographer, Anastasius.

Pavia surrendered June, 774, and Desiderius re-

' 774, 781, 787, and 800 A. D.; Einhard, " Vita Karoli," c. 27;
Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 533.

King of tJie Lombai'ds. 197

tired to the monastery of Corbie. Athalgis fled to
Constantinople, showing the alHance and common
cause between the Lombard king and the emperor
of the East, both of whom had been spoiled of their
possessions and hopes of power by the pope.
Charles enlarged his title to *' King of the Franks
and of the Lombards, and Patrician of the Ro-
mans."

For the first time the conquest of the Franks was
not merged into the Frankish kingdom. Charles,
yielding, it is said, to the suggestion of the pope,
merely added the title of" Lombard King" to his
own, and respected the integrity of the Lombard
organization appearing as successor to Desiderius.
The Duke of Spoleto had already, in 773, thrown
himself into the arms of the pope, and only one
duke, Arichis of Benevento, the son-in-law of Desid-
erius, refused to acknowledge the new king of the
Lombards. The more complete and firmly estab-
lished organization of the Lombard kingdom made
it seem undesirable and inexpedient for him to at-
tempt its absolute incorporation into the Frankish
kingdom even if that were possible. Furthermore,
the condition of affairs in his own kingdom prevent-
ed his staying longer in Italy ; and summoned
North by a fresh outbreak of the Saxons, he was
unable to press his claims or to push his conquest
further South.

The old Lombard constitution remained in force,
Charles adding laws of his own as seemed neces-
sary. The dukes were left, partly at any rate, with
the powers they already had. Charles was satisfied

198 TJie Age of Charlemagne,

to be acknowledged by them as their king, and
dukes and nobles did homage to him. To guard
his rule he put a Prankish garrison in Pavia with
Prankish officers, and appointed counts in single
provinces, who there took the place of the early
dukes ; hostages were received also to guarantee
the fidelity of the Lombards. After making gener-
ous gifts to various monasteries and to a hospital in
Pavia, he left Italy in the last of July, and returned
to continue the war against the Saxons. He made
a special reckoning of the years of his reign in Italy,
and in one of his capitularies speaks of the Lombard
kings as " our predecessors, the kings of Italy." '

It is a mistake to affirm that Charles was
crowned with the famous " iron crown of Lom-
bardy," supposed to contain the true nails of the
cross, for that crown does not appear to have been
worn until the fourteenth century."

Charles was in no haste to surrender the territory
claimed by the papacy which he had just taken
from the Lombards, and thus, as the pope declared,
to fulfil the promise of his father. Pippin. The let-
ter which Hadrian wrote to Charles in 778 is signifi-
cant. He first expresses his regret that Charles
and his queen had not presented themselves in
Rome at Easter for the baptism of their newborn
son.^

We also," he continues, " implore your excel-
lency, best-beloved son and illustrious king, for the

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 204, No. gS.

' Mombert, pp. 99, 100.

• Pippin, the second son, born in the previous year, 777.

The Modern Constant ine. 199

love of God and of the key-bearer of the kingdom
of heaven, who has deigned to bestow upon you the
kingdom of your father, that you order all things to
be fulfilled in our time according to the promise
which you made to God's apostle for the saKation
of your soul and the stability of your realm ; that
the church of Almighty God and of the blessed
apostle Peter, to whom were given the keys of the
kingdom of heaven and the power of binding and
loosing, may continue to be exalted more and more,
and that all things may be fulfilled according to
your promise, and then to you will be ascribed re-
ward in heavenly places and an excellent reputation
in the whole world, and as in the time of the blessed
Sylvester, pontiff of Rome, by the most pious em-
peror Constantine the Great, of sacred memory,
through his generosity the holy Catholic and apos-
tolic Roman Church was restored and exalted and
endowed with power in these parts of the West, so
also in these most fortunate times of yours and
ours may the holy church of God — that is, of the
blessed apostle Peter — grow and enlarge and be ex-
alted more and more, so that all people who hear of
this may say, ' O Lord, save the king and hear us
when we call upon Thee ! ' ' for lo ! our modern
Constantine, most Christian emperor of God's ap-
pointment, in these times has risen up, by whom
God has deigned to increase the possessions of his
holy church, the church of the blessed Peter, prince
of the apostles. Besides, let all other lands which,
by various emperors, patricians, and others fearing

' Ps. xviii. 10.

200 The Age of Charle77iagne.

God for the salvation of their souls and for the par-
don of their sins, in parts of Tuscany, Spoleto, Bene-
vento, Corsica, and in the Sabine patrimony, have
been granted to the blessed apostle Peter and to
the holy and apostolic Roman Church and by the
execrable race of the Lombards in the course of
years have been seized and carried off, now in your
time be restored. Of which also we have many
deeds of donation laid up in our sacred archives of
the Lateran, which we have directed to be shown to
you."^

This is especially noteworthy as being the first
reference to the Forged Donation, but beyond the
fact that the church owned large estates in Spoleto,
Tuscany, Sabina, and Ravenna, to which undoubt-
edly Charles made important additions, nothing can
be maintained with any certainty. It is to be no-
ticed also that the greater number of the papal let-
ters have little or nothing to do with the spiritual
and moral advancement of the church and the
spread of Christianity, for which Charles and his
bishops and other clergy were doing so much, but
are filled with expressions of the papal longing for
temporal possessions and the dread or complaint of
their loss. The advancement of the church is
synonymous with the increase of its temporal power
and territorial aggrandizement, while spiritual wel-
fare and salvation are made the reward for gifts of
territory and of dominion. The relations of Charles
with the pope were purely political, and the place
which the Bishop of Rome occupied seemed to be
' JafTf6, vol. iv., pp. 199, 200 ; Ep. 61, 778 a.d.

The Do7iation by Charles. 20

tliat of a temporal prince with supernatural powers.
It is not to Rome, but to the Frankish bishops and
clergy that we look for the ecclesiastical and spir-
itual interests of Charles and of his realm. The
times of Gregory and Augustine, and even the
times of Zacharias and Boniface, have passed, and it
will be long before they come again. The biog-
rapher of Hadrian describes most minutely and at
great length the visit of Charles to Rome, which
he says was at first a great surprise to the pope.
The care, however, with which he enters into every
detail, and the elaborate ceremonies carried on on
that occasion, show with what importance it was
regarded at Rome. The solemn oath on each side,
to which afterwards reference was frequently made,
was of the utmost significance, and from this time
the claims of the pope for the delivery and surer pos-
session of the territories already granted by Pippin,
and now confirmed by Charles to the blessed Peter,
are the principal object of the correspondence be-
tween the pope and the king.

In view of the evidence adduced it can hardly be
denied that Charles gave the promise of a gift which
was essentially a repetition of his father's, and that
he made an offering of this kind at the tomb of St.
Peter. Of this the pope most diligently reminded
him. in every letter of their correspondence. It is
also quite certain that Charles about this time re-
stored to the Roman see a number of cities, lands,
and castles which the Lombards had seized, but the
exact details cannot be known ; even the papal
biographer does not give the exact words, and it is

202 TJic Age of Cliarlemagne.

probable that the boundary definitions are the in-
terpolation of later times.' The gain for the papal
see under these conditions V\^as not very great.
Charles probably would not have made his promise
of donation if the pope had not been able to appeal
to the precedent established by his father. He
himself showed through his whole later action that
the restoration of the territory to the Roman see,
which the pope demanded, did not lie very close to
his heart, and the fulfilment of such a promise de-
pended upon conditions which made it easy to defer
if not to evade it. Had he earnestly determined to
restore to the pope possession of all those lands,
undoubtedly he could have accomplished it ; and
that this did not happen, while not proving that he
would break his promise, shows that he had little
interest in it.

The position of Charles as patrician of Rome
throws much light on his relations with the papal
see. Stephen HI. had called Pippin and his son to
.the patriciate of Rome as a sort of military pro-
tectorship and honorary chieftainship over the
church and her interests, but naturally without de-
pendence on the emperor, since the pope and not
the emperor had named them patricians.

It was not for the interest of the pope, however,
to use this title very generally, since it carried with
it an idea of rule and of governorship. It was to
lay upon the Carolingians obligations rather than
to confer upon them rights and privileges. Ever

^ Wailz, vol. iii., pp. 180-182 ; 218-220; Abel-Simson, vol. i.,
pp. 156-170.

King and Patrician.

since the journey of Charles to Italy a change had
come, not so much on account of his Easter visit to
Rome, but in consequence of the complete ruin of
the Lombard kingdom. He had now added to the
honorary dignity of the patriciate the actual power
of the Lombard king. He would realize the duties
and rights of his patriciate ; but now, not in the
name of the emperor, or even in that of the pope,
but in his own, and he succeeded practically to the
place of the emperor both in Roman and in Grecian
Italy. On these relations depended the greater
difficulties in the way of carrying out the donations.
Even in the territories whose possession the pope
really gained the rights of his sway were not uncon-
tested. In no part of the possessions of the church
was he wholly independent ; everywhere the Prank-
ish king had certain rights, though nothing definite
had been determined as to the limits of those rights
on either side. It happened, in consequence of this
lack of definiteness, that the relations of the pope
with the royal officers, and often with the king him-
self, led frequently to sharp discussions, from which
it sometimes resulted that in all the lands of the
church the supremacy belonged not to the pope,
but to the Prankish king.' In this respect there was
no difference between the exarchate and the other
possessions of the pope where Charles exercised the
right of supremacy." Here too he showed quite

' Waitz, vol. iii., p. i8i, note 2 ; Abel-Simson, vol. i., p. 174
and note i ; Dollinger, " Charles the Great," pp. 103-10S.

"^ Dollinger. " Charles the Great," p. 104, note 2. Citing the
affair of Archbishop Martin as a case in point ; Abel-Simson,
vol. i., pp. 212-214.

204 TJic Age of CJiarlcmagnc.

distinctly how slight was his zeal for the spread of
church territory, for he allowed the exarchate to
fall quite completely into the possession of the
Archbishop of Ravenna, and for several years it was
withheld by him from the pope. Charles was now
recognized as the supreme ruler in all the territories
of the church. For him prayer was offered in
Hadrian's ritual in the Roman Church, as through-
out the whole Prankish kingdom.^ The people in
papal territory must swear fidelity to him as well as
to the pope,^ and long before his coronation as em-
peror the Romans in Italy were regarded as his vas-
sals and Rome itself as a city of his kingdom.^
When Hadrian died in 795 and Leo was elected in
his place, he transmitted, as once already had his
predecessor, Stephen, to Charles Martel, the keys
of the tomb of St. Peter and the banner of the city,
joining with it the request that the king would send
one of his nobles to bind by oath the Roman peo-
ple in fidelity and submission to him.^

Nor can there be any doubt that Charles claimed
true royal rights in Rome, and that Leo completely
recognized them.^ He was the first of the popes
who dated his public acts with the years of Charles's
reign.

Oppressed by an opposing party in the city, who
charged him with heinous crimes, seized, maltreat-

' Jaff6, vol. iv., p. 205 ; Ep. 64, 774-780 A.D.
» Ibid., p. 187.

2 Dollinger, " Charles the Great," p. 105, referring to Paulus.
* Jaff6, vol. iv. p. 187 ; Ep. 56, 775 a.d.; Abel-Simson, vol. i.
P- 175-
^ Jaff6, vol. iv., p. 354; Ep. Car., 10, 796 a.d.

The Papal Oath of Purgation, 205

ed, and wounded, Leo, in 799, fled to Charles,
whom he found in far-off Saxony. Officers of the
king escorted him back to Rome, held a trial of his
oppressors, and sent them into exile beyond the
Alps.' And when, a year later, Charles himself
came to Rome, the pope cleared himself from the
charge with an oath in his presence. The following
account is given by the papal biographer :

" After a little while the great king himself came
to the church of St. Peter, and was received with
great honor. He then called together the arch-
bishops, bishops, abbots, and all the nobility of the
Franks and the equally illustrious men of the Ro-
mans, and the great king and the most blessed pon-
tiff sitting together, made the archbishops, bishops,
and abbots sit near them, while the others, the
priests and nobles, stood, that they might render a
decision regarding the crimes charged against the
pope. All declared : * We do not dare to judge
the apostolic see, which is the head of all the
churches of God, for we all are judged by it and by
its vicar ; but it is judged by no one according to
the ancient custom. As the chief pontiffs so have
decreed, we canonically obey. ' But the venerable
head of the church said, ' I follow the precedents
of my predecessors, and from such false incrimina-
tion as they have wickedly charged upon me I am
ready to purge myself.' " "^

The oath is as follows : " Wherefore I, Leo,

' "Ann. Lauresh.," an. 799 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 37 ; "Ann.
Laur. Maj. and Einhardi," an. 799; M. G. SS., vol. i., pp. 184-1S7,
' "Lib. Pondf.," vol. ii., p. 7, c. 21.

2o6 T/ie Age of Charlemagne.

pontiff of the whole Roman Church, judged by no
one, neither forced by any, but of my own free will,
do purify and purge myself in your sight, and be-
fore God and his angels, who know my conscience,
and the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, in
whose church we are, that I have neither perpe-
trated nor ordered to be done those criminal and
wicked acts which they charge against me. God is
my witness, to whose judgment-seat we all must
come, and in whose sight we all just stand. And
this I do of my own free will, on account of the
suspicions raised against me ; not as though it were
laid down in the canons, nor so as to bind this cus-
tom or decree upon my successors in the holy
church, or upon my brethren and fellow-bishops." ^
The papal biographer continues : " But on the
next day, in the same church of St. Peter, all the
archbishops, bishops, abbots, and all the Franks
who were in the service of the great king, and all
the Roman people being assembled, in their pres-
ence the venerable pontiff embraced the four holy
gospels of Christ, and before them all ascended to
the pulpit and, under oath, said, with a clear voice :
' Indeed, of those false crimes with which the Ro-
mans have accused me, who have unjustly persecut-
ed me, I have no knowledge, and I deny that I
have done such things.' All then joined in a litany
of praise to God, to the Virgin Mary, to St. Peter,
and to all the saints. After these things, the day
of the birth of Christ arriving, they were all in the
same church again, and then the venerable and
' Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 378 ; Ep. Car., 20, A.d. 800.

The Coro?iatwn. 207

beneficent pontiff with his own hand crowned him
with the most precious crown. Then all the faithful
Romans, seeing what great care and love he had for
the holy Roman Church and its vicar, unanimously,
with a loud voice, by the will of God and of the
blessed Peter, key-bearer of heaven, exclaimed :
* To Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by
God, great and pacific emperor, life and victory ! '
Before the sacred tomb of the blessed apostle Peter,
invoking many saints, it was thrice said, and he was
constituted by all emperor of the Romans. There
also the most holy chief and pontiff anointed with
holy oil Charles, his most excellent son, as king on
the same day,' and Mass being ended, the most
serene lord emperor offered a silver table, and at
the tomb of St. Peter, with his sons and daughters,
vases of pure gold and other gifts." ""

• Charles had been raised to the kingship in 7SS, and had re-
ceived from his father a kingdom in Neustria in 789. Abel-Simson,
vol. ii., pp. 6, 7,

" "Lib. Pontif.," vol. ii., pp. 7 ff., c. 22-25.

CHAPTER XX.

FRANKISH ACCOUNTS OF THE CORONATION — THE
ACT OF THE POPE — THREE THEORIES — THE
ATTITUDE OF CHARLES — RELATIONS WITH
CONSTANTINOPLE — RENEWAL AND TRANSFER
— TWO EMPERORS AND TWO EMPIRES — IDEA
OF A WORLD EMPIRE IN UNION WITH THE
CHURCH.

F the personal action of the pope in the
coronation of Charles the Great, two dif-
ferent accounts are given, the Prankish
and the papal, but these two accounts
vary in so many important particulars
that they cannot be combined. One must be right
and the other wrong, and from internal evidence the
Prankish seems more entitled to credence. The
papal account was given at the close of the preced-
ing chapter.

The fullest account from Prankish sources is
given in the Chronicle of Moissac, and is as fol-
lows : " Now on the most holy day of the Lord's
birth,' while the king was at mass, upon rising after
prayer before the tomb of the blessed Apostle Peter,

' Friday, Dec. 25, 800 A.D.
208

''Adoration' by the Pope. 209

Pope Leo, with the consent of all the bishops and
priests and of the chief men of the Franks and like-
wise of the Romans, set a golden crown upon his
head, while the Roman people shouted aloud :
' To Charles Augustus, crowned by God the great
and peace-giving emperor of the Romans, Life and
Victory ! ' After hymns of praise had been sung
by the people, he received the adoration of the
pope,' after the apostolic manner of the ancient em-
perors, since this also was done by the will of God.
For while the emperor was at Rome, certain men
were brought to him saying that the name of the
emperor had ceased among the Greeks, and a woman
held imperial rule among them, Irene by name, who
had caused her son, the emperor, to be seized by
treachery, and had put out his eyes and usurped for
herself the imperial rule, as it is written of Athaliah
in the Book of Kings. When they heard of this,
Leo the pope, with all the assembly of the bishops,
priests, and abbots, the senate of the Franks, and
all the elders of the Romans, with the rest of the
Christian people, held a council, and decided that
they ought to give to Charles, the king of the
Franks, the name of emperor, inasmuch as he held
Rome, the mother of the empire, where the Caesars
and the emperors always used to sit, and lest the
heathens should mock the Christians if the name of
emperor had ceased among them."' The other
account declares that Charles held Rome itself and

* " Einhardi Ann.," an. 8oi ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. iSg.
2 "Chronic. Moiss.," an. 8oi (for 800) ; M. G. SS., vol. i., pp.
505, 506.

N

2IO The Age of Charlemagne.

all the other regions which he ruled throughout
Italy, Gaul, and Germany, and because the Al-
mighty God had given all these lands into his power,
so it seemed best to the council that, with the help
of God and at the prayer of the whole Christian peo-
ple, he should take the name of emperor. Whose
petition King Charles was himself unwilling to re-
fuse, but with all humility submitted himself to
God, and at the petition of the priests and all the
Christian people, on the day of the nativity of our
Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself the name of
emperor, being consecrated by the lord Pope Leo.'

The noteworthy differences between these various
accounts relate to the charges against the pope and
his justification of himself before Charles, to the
assemblies, consultations, formal petitions, and final
decisions preceding the coronation itself, and to the
fact that the papal account makes no mention of
the adoration of the emperor by the pope according
to the ancient custom, an important and undoubt-
edly a real feature of the coronation and one not
unsuited to the occasion.' A pope had already
prostrated himself before Pippin, and the interven-
tion of Charles was greatly needed by Pope Leo at
this time. Bryce is right, however, in calling atten-
tion to the absence of anything showing a strictly
legal character.

" The Prankish king does not of his own might
seize the crown, but rather receives it as coming
naturally to him, as the legitimate consequence of

' "Ann. Lauresh.," an. 8oi ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 38.
' " Einhardi Ann.," an. 801 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 189.

Theo^^es of the Coronaiioji. 2 1 1

the authority he already enjoyed. The pope be-
stows the crown, not in virtue of any right of his
own as head of the church ; he is merely the instru-
ment of God's providence, which has unmistakably
pointed out Charles as the proper person to defend
and lead the Christian commonwealth. The Roman
people do not formally elect and appoint, but by
their applause accept the chief who is presented to
them. He came as conceived of, as directly ordered
by the Divine Providence which has brought about
a state of things that admits of but one issue— an
issue which king, priest, and people have only to
recognize and obey — their personal ambitions, pas-
sions, intrigues, sinking and vanishing in reverential
awe at what seems the immediate interposition of
Heaven. And as the result is desired by all parties
alike, they do not think of inquiring into one an-
other's rights, but take their momentary harmony
to be natural and necessary, never dreaming of the
dif^culties and conflicts which were to arise out of
what seemed then so simple. And it was just be-
cause everything was thus left undetermined, not
resting on express stipulations, but rather on a sort
of mutual understanding and sympathy of beliefs
and wishes which augured no evil, that the event
admitted of being afterwards represented in so many
different lights." '

It was only later in the bitter struggle between

the Hohenstaufen emperors and the papacy that

each party sought to find in the coronation of

Charles a precedent for the rights which he claimed.

' Bryce, pp. 56, 57.

212 The Age of Charlemagne.

The circumstances thus show that there must have
been some preparation for the event. Negotiations
for the union between the powers of East and West
had already taken place, and at one time Rothrud,
the eldest daughter of Charles, had been betrothed
at the age of eight to Constantine, the youthful em-
peror ten years of age, but this betrothal came to
nothing, though there was a rumor that Charles
himself was to marry the mother of the emperor.
Irene then determined to seize the imperial power,
and, as we have seen, blinded her son and usurped
his throne. Prankish nobles or Romans and the
pope became impatient, desiring to establish their
independence of the empire of Constantinople which
all of them had practically realized. It is quite
probable that the coronation was discussed by
Charles and the pope at the latter's visit to Pader-
born in 799, and also probably with Hadrian, Pope
Leo's predecessor, yet Einhard positively declares
that the coronation came as a great surprise to
Charles, and he asserts that at the first Charles had
such an aversion to the titles of Emperor and
Augustus, " that he declared that he would not have
set foot in the church the day they were conferred,
although it was a great feast-day, could he have
foreseen the design of the pope." ' This statement
cannot be explained away as an affectation or a fic-
tion. The apparent contradiction can be explained
by the fact that the surprise and objection felt by

' Einhard, " Vita Karoli," c. 28 ; " Poeta Saxo," bk. v., verses
527-534; Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 533, 662. Confirmed by "Ann.
Max," an. 801 ; Abel-Simson, vol. ii., p. 239.

opposition of Charles to the Coro7iation. 213

Charles were due to the time and manner of the act
rather than to the act itself. The action of the
pope was too precipitate. Charles, not wishing to
antagonize the Greeks, probably had not given full
consent to the plan, although he may have discussed
it, nor had he made the final preparations for it.
Yet ten of the chief dignitaries of the realm, two
archbishops, five bishops, and three counts, whom
he had sent as royal envoys to escort the pope back
to Rome, had been in Rome for over a year, and
must have been present at the deliberations and the
council where it was planned. Also it is probable
that Charles did not altogether like the self-ap-
pointed position assumed by the pope in adding to
the religious ceremony of anointing with the holy
oil, the actual placing of the golden crown upon his
head, implying, as it did, political rights and supe-
riority. At any rate, it is significant that when the
crown was bestowed upon Louis the Pious, in whose
reign Einhard wrote, Charles directed his son to
take it from the altar and place it on his own head.'
It was on this account that he allowed himself to be
crowned by the pope in 816, when, after the death
of Charles, he reigned alone." The truth was, the
pope needed Charles as an emperor even more than
Charles needed the imperial title. Leo had already
recognized him as overlord four years before, and
realized that the coronation would make him even
more the protector of the church, and would iden-
tify him more closely with her interests.

* Thegan, " De Gestis Ludow. Pii," c. 6.
2 Cf. Mombert, p. 365.

2 14 '^^^^ ^S^ ^f Charlemagne.

There is little or no evidence of any serious
thoughts in regard to the attitude and position
which the East might take. Its real power ir Italy-
had long since passed away, and beyond a few pos-
sessions in the south it had no place. The contests
and confusions in Italy had made the imperial
crown of special value and significance to Charles in
his endeavors to restore order and to establish a
strong central authority. Furthermore, the weak-
ness of the East was a disgrace to the church, and
thus the pope had already ceased to mention the
regnal years of the emperor in dating his edicts and
decrees. The Council of Nice, which met in 787,
and declared against the iconoclasts and in favor of
image worship, had aroused the objection of Charles,
and the Caroline books, issued just after the council
which Charles held at Frankfort in 794, had been
his reply, and he had even called upon Hadrian to
denounce the emperor as a heretic. Hadrian had
answered that he would summon the imperial court
at Constantinople to surrender to the Roman See
the patrimony of the jurisdiction of the Illyrian dio-
cese, and that if this was refused, he would then con-
demn the emperor as a heretic' This is why in the
coronation of Charles little considerattion was paid to
the Roman emperor in the East, though probably
the hesitation of Charles was due to his desire to
make an amicable arrangement with the court of
Constantinople before taking the final step.

Charles was recognized already as lord of Rome,
and Alcuin said, in 799, " Rome belongs by right
* Mansi, vol xiil., p. 759 ; Jaffe, vol. vi., p. 248 ; Ale. Ep. 33.

Relation of the Neiu Empire to the East. 2 1 5

of possession to the king ; she is the true head of
the body of his realm ;" and in a tribute to the good
fortune and briUiant personal qualities of Charles
himself, Alcuin declared that Charles excelled both
pope and emperor in might, in wisdom, and in royal
dignity.'

Charles had outgrown his position as king of the
Franks, and was already in reality the emperor,
though without the title, for, with the exception of
Britain, Spain, and Northern Africa, all of the im-
perial possessions of old Rome owned his sway,
while he had extended the ancient boundaries far to
the north beyond the Danube and the Rhine, nor
had he merely enlarged his territory. Rome hu-
miliated, ill-used, and degraded to the ignoble role
of a distant provincial town, was quite ready to wel-
come an emperor of her own, and thus to hold again
her old position of mistress of the nations and ruler
of the world.

The relation of the newly created empire to the
East was more difficult to determine, and the ques-
tion as to whether one or two empires resulted still
vexes historians. The coronation of Charles carried
with it a revival and renev/al of the imperial power
of Rome, and the restoration of the empire was
represented on a leaden seal, the reverse bearing
Charles's portrait and the words, " Our lord Charles
the pious, happy and ever Augustus," the obverse
the gate of a city between two towers surmounted
by a cross, below which was the word " Rome,"
and around it the inscription, " The Revival {Rcno-
' Jaffe, vol. vi., Alcuini Epist., No. 114.

2i6 The Age of Charlemagne.

vatid) of the Roman Empire." It has been said
that this was effected without creating two Roman
empires, and in a sense this is true. The imperial
throne at Constantinople was vacant, only a woman
occupied the place, and this was presented as one
of the reasons for Charles's coronation, as stated by
the chronicles. Undoubtedly Charles would have
wished to have made some arrangements with the
imperial power at Constantinople before taking the
imperial crown, but that had been impossible. On
the authority of an Eastern chronicler, Theophanes,
we learn that he did propose marriage to Irene,
but the plan was opposed by her chief minister,
.^Etius, and a short time afterwards a conspiracy
placed the imperial treasurer, Nicephorus, on the
throne.^

In a sense also there was unquestionably a trans-
fer of the imperial power from Constantinople to
Rome, and this transfer did result ultimately in the
existence of two empires, for beyond this plan of
Charles, in regard to the marriage to Irene, there
was no attempt or thought to conquer or absorb the
East ; and when the new emperor was crowned at
Constantinople, Charles tried to gain his acknowledg-
ment." It must have been felt that the imperial
power over Rome, which had been held by the
Roman emperor at Constantinople ever since the

^ Dollinger, " Charles the Great," p. 133.

'■^ In the annals of the time Charles is called the sixty-eighth
emperor, Constantine VI. the sixty-seventh. Brice, p. 63. When
Rudolph of Ilapsburg confirmed the papal possessions in Italy to
the pope, one of the reasons given was that the Holy See had
transferred the empire to the Germans from the Greeks. "Cod.
Epist. Rudulphi," vol. i., p. 80; quoted by Lea, p. 38, note 3.

Two Emperors and Tiuo Empires. ' 217

sixth century, was restored now to the West, and
that henceforth in the strictest Western sense the
rulers at Constantinople were no longer Roman em-
perors. There was unquestionably also a recog-
nition on both sides, not only of two emperors, but
of two empires. Einhard in his annals tells us that,
in the year 812, the Emperor Nicephorus died in
battle, and his son-in-law Michael, having succeeded
him upon the imperial throne, received at Constan-
tinople deputies sent to Michael by the Emperor
Charles, and sent them away with an embassy of his
own to confirm the treaty of peace, for which nego-
tiations had been begun with Nicephorus. In a
letter written in 811 by " Charles I., Emperor to
Nicephorus, Emperor of the Greeks," as the title
reads, he addresses him as his brother, and seeks to
gain his recognition.^

In a letter, in 813, written to Michael, he ad-
dresses him as follows : "In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
Charles by divine grace, emperor and Augustus, and
likewise king of the Franks and Lombards, to his
beloved and honorable brother Michael, glorious
emperor and Augustus, eternal salvation in Our
Lord Jesus Christ," while in the very beginning of
this letter he expresses his gratitude that by divine
favor, ** in our own days the thing sought and for-
ever desired, peace between the Eastern and West-
ern Empire, has been established."' This shows
very clearly the view which was held by Charles in

' Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 393-396 ; Ep. Carol. 29.
2 Ibid., pp. 415, 416; Ep. Carol. 40.

2i8 The Age of CJiarlema^ne.

regard to the condition of affairs and the relation
between Rome and Constantinople. In 812 the
ambassadors of the Eastern Empire addressed
Charles as " emperor" in the church at Aix-la-
Chapelle, and years afterwards when, in the twelfth
century, the rivalry between the two once more
broke out, Isaac of Constantinople addressed Fred-
erick as ** most generous emperor of Germany," and
in another letter uses this form, " Isaac, faithful in
Christ, divinely crowned, sublime, potent, highly
exalted, heir to the crown of Constantine the Great,
Romaic (Roineori) moderator and angel, to the most
noble emperor of ancient Rome, king of Germany,
and beloved brother in his imperial rule, greeting." '

Charles intended immediately after his coronation
to make a conquest of Sicily in order to save it from
the Saracens, but he gave up this plan in order to
purchase peace with Constantinople, and in 837 Sicily
passed under the Moslem control. After years of
opposing differences and long discussions an agree-
ment came about, which left to the Greeks Venetia
and Dalmatia and the possessions belonging to them
in southern Italy, while Charles gained recognition
as emperor. Thus the Roman Empire dissolved
partnership with the East, and restricted its rights
to the West, where it revived its ancient rule.^

The pope, regarded as the representative of the
empire and of Romanism, and surely as the head of
Latin nationality, and still more as the recognized
spiritual overseer of the Christian republic, possessed

* Bryce, p. 192, note i.

' Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 200, 201.

The Empire and the Church. 219

the power of accomplishing that revolution, which
without the aid of the church would have been im-
possible, and gave a visible guarantee of that divine
sanction which was needed to justify the event.
Perhaps Charles, as well as Leo, did believe in the
possibility of preserving the indivisibility of the em-
pire like that of the cliurch, but the continuance of
the imperial line at Constantinople, after the brief
vacancy following the death of Constantine VI.,
rendered futile any such hopes. With the history,
the traditions, and the name of Rome there was
unquestionably revived the idea of a world empire,
such as had ever been bound up with the Roman
name, and its realization was sought, at least as far
as it might be realized, among all the people and in
all the states in the West — that is, in Europe.

Thus the union with the church made its influence
felt, and thus the church imparted to the empire
something of its character and aims and purposes,
that just as the church had the task, and must
ever strive to extend its sphere by the spread of
Christianity among people as yet unconverted, so
the rule of the emperor received therefrom the
prospect of a wider expansion, without regard
to the earlier limits of the ancient empire, but co-
extensive with the church. This gave it new rela-
tions and new tasks, though with distinctly German
characteristics. The empire was called Roman,
but it was really a Christian Germanic power. It
was the final result of that development which began
with the wandering of the German tribes and their
extension over the Roman provinces, and which had

2 20 The Age of Charlemagne.

carried with it their conversion to Christianity, their
reception into the Christian church, and had now
placed their foremost leader on the imperial throne
of Christian Rome. All the power and dominions
hitherto obtained by the Prankish kings were now
added to the empire.

CHAPTER XXI.

THEORIES UNDERLYING THE CORONATION — CLOSER
RELATIONS WITH THE PAPACY — THE OLD
TESTAMENT IDEAL— AUGUSTINE'S CITY OF GOD
— THE GENERAL ADMONITION — SECULAR AND
ECCLESIASTICAL ADMINISTRATION — THE SPAN-
ISH CAMPAIGN — DOWNFALL OF THE DUKE OF
THE BAVARIANS — SUBMISSION OF THE DUKE OF
BENEVENTO — THE CONQUEST OF THE AVARS.

HE coronation of Charles by the pope
brought the new emperor into closer and
more intimate relations with the papacy,
though conferring upon him no additional
rights, but now once for all the relation-
ship with the East was finally broken, and all the
connections which had existed between the church
and the emperor from the time of Constantine the
Great to Constantine VI. were transferred to Charles
the Great. As to the source from which he derived
his imperial authority it is not easy to say, though it
is impossible to go as far as Waitz goes in affirming
that" neither the coronation by the pope nor the
salutation by the people could have conferred any
formal right on the new emperor, and that the right

22 2 The Age of Charlemagne.

of Charles lay in the might of the deeds which had
brought about this elevation to which the voice of
the people had given only a recognition and some
definite expression.' Unquestionably the imperial
dignity would never have been conferred upon
Charles had it not been for his wonderful successes
within the kingdom, and in his conquests beyond
its boundaries, especially over the Lombards, and
the consequent need of some strong established civil
power in Italy for the protection of the papacy and
its rights, as well as for the maintenance of peace
and order.

As for the justification of the act, it is not far
to seek. The Greeks had degraded the imperial
dignity and allowed it to fall into the blood-
stained hands of a woman, and the Romans, failing
to receive any protection from the East, had re-
sumed their ancient right of election. Thus the
imperial authority in the West had been transferred
to the leader of the Franks, because he was the
master of the city which was the capital of the
empire, and exercised a truly imperial rule. It is
significant that Theophanes, the only Byzantine
contemporary who mentions the occurrence, has
omitted any reference to the election and consent
of the people. " It is hardly necessary to observe,"
says Bury in a very important passage, '* that the
election of the new Roman emperor, if it was not
legally defensible, was yet as thoroughly justifiable
by the actual history of the two preceding centuries,
as it has been justified by the history of the ten suc-
' Waitz, vol. iii., pp. 195, 196.

Justification of the Papal Action. 223

ceeding centuries. For the popes had practically
assumed in the West the functions and the position
of the emperor. It was around them and their
bishops that the municipalities rallied in a series of
continual struggles with the Lombards. The pres-
ence of the emperor's delegates in Italy was becom-
ing every year less effectual. It was the pope who
organized missionary enterprises to convert the
heathen in the West, just as it was the emperor
who furthered similar enterprises in the East. Greg-
ory I., in spite of the respectful tone of his letters to
Maurice and Phocas, was the civil potentate in Italy.
The mere fact that the pope was the largest landed
proprietor in Roman Italy concurred to give him
an almost monarchical position. As the virtual sov-
ereign then of Italy as far as it was Roman — for
even in the day of the exarchs he had often been its
sovereign more truly than the exarch or the emperor
— and as the bearer of the idea of the Roman Em-
pire with all its traditions of civilization, the pope
had a right, by the standard of justice, to transfer
the representation of the ideas whereof he was the
keeper to one who was able to realize them." ' He
had accomplished by peaceful measures that which
nations are able to effect sometimes only by bloody
revolutions.

Yet Charles relied upon neither the corona-
tion by the pope nor the election by the people,
nor did he make Rome the capital of his em-
pire nor recognize in the Roman people in the
future any right to dispose of the imperial dignity,
> Bury, vol. ii., pp. 508, 509.

2 24 ^^^^ ^S^ of Charlemagne,

nor did he conceive of the imperial authority as if
in the future it depended on the consecration of the
pope. He visited Rome only four times during his
reign, and his stay was always short, for he had no
residence there, and was only the guest of the pope
in the Lateran. Louis, his son and successor, never
went there, and Lothair was the next to receive the
imperial crown in Rome. On the death of Louis IL
without issue a contest for the imperial dignity
arose, and was settled only by an appeal to the
pope. Pope John VIIL, taking advantage of the
circumstances, offered the crown to Charles the
Bold, and, his invitation being accepted, the pope
appeared once more as the supreme authority in
naming and crowning the emperor. Thus the sec-
ond Charles was crowned by the pope in Rome on
Christmas Day, 875. He was obliged, however, to
renounce formally all claims over the States of the
Church, as the papal possessions in Italy were called.
After this the pontifical coronation was considered
necessary and decisive in case of contesting claims,
and after the creation of the Holy Roman Empire
by Otto L, in 962, it was inseparably connected
with the title of emperor.

At this first coronation of Charles the Great, how-
ever, the pope had merely to confirm and to give relig-
ious recognition to that power which, so far as it was
exercised, existed independently of him — indeed to
which he himself, together with Rome and all his pos-
sessions, was subject. Charles had been the first to
make use of the title of "patrician," although it had
been bestowed in the first place upon his father, but

Imperial Supremacy. 225

the name of " patrician" now disappeared or was
swallowed up in the larger and more comprehensive
title of " emperor," giving a more settled character
and a firmer basis to the rights which he had already
exercised not only as patrician, but as conqueror of
Italy and king of the Lombards. Rome belonged to
the empire. The pope was a bishop belonging to it
as others did, though of higher rank and authority,
and in many respects in a peculiar position, but still
bound to the emperor, to whom Leo speaks of his
service due, which he and the people of the city
recognized by the usual oath of fidelity. This is
shown by the very necessity which seems to have
been the immediate cause of the coronation of itself,
the persecution inflicted upon Leo by his enemies,
which drove him from Rome and led him to seek
for protection and support at the feet of Charles, to
whom both he and the nobles of the city referred
the case for judgment, constituted Charles as a
tribunal to try the case, and formed a basis for that
recognition of the supremacy of the civil power
which seemed so essential to the maintenance of the
papacy.' Now more than ever Charles stood forth
as the protector and supporter of the church, the
secular head, just as the pope was the spiritual head,
and the acts of Charles were an increasing realiza-
tion of this great fact, although they had been mani-
fested in the preceding years of his reign, particu-
larly after the conquest of the Lombards and the
peculiarly intimate relations with the pope which
that event brought about.

1 "Ann. Lauresh.," an. 800 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 38.
O

226 The Age of Charlemagne.

On many occasions, not only in his capitularies
and in the great missionary work which he encour-
aged and sustained, in his recognition of the church
in political as well as in religious life, but also in his
conversation, he showed a deep and reverent appre-
ciation of the high religious position to which he
was called as head of the united kingdoms of the
West and the patron and protector of the church
and of Christianity. He might well be called by
the pope a second Constantine the Great, not on
account of his donations of land and of temporal
wealth, but rather on account of the devotion of his
heart and the consecration of all the forces of his
being to that great work which he accomplished for
the church in the West at a most critical period of
its existence. Nor was this attitude of mind and
soul without its cause.

Among the Christian Fathers known and studied
at his time, especially by Alcuin and in the palace
school, were the writings of St. Augustine, of which
Charles was especially fond, never tiring of hearing
them read. " While at table," Einhard tells us, " he
listened to reading or music. The subjects of the
readings were the stories and deeds of olden time ; he
was fond, too, of St. Augustine's books, and es-
pecially of the one entitled the * City of God.' " '

The magnificent ideal presented in this, one of
the grandest and noblest treatises in all theology
and politics, seems to have had the strongest influ-
ence upon his own ideas, and held before that new,
fresh genius of the West, just rising out of barbar-
' Einhard, " Vila," c. 24.

Charles and St. Augustine. 227

ism, the higlicst standard which the ancient world
of Rome and the noblest truths of Christianity could
create. " \Vould to God/' he is reported to have
said, " I had twelve such men as St. Augustine !"
to which Alcuin significantly replied, " The Creator
of heaven and earth was content with one." ' Per-
haps one of the finest evidences of this spirit and
ideal are presented in the General Admonition, as it
is called, set forth in the form of a capitulary in the
assembly of 798, many of the passages of which will
well repay quotation.

" In the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
ruleth forever, I, Charles, by the grace of God and
by the favor of his mercy, king and ruler of the
kingdom of the Franks, and the devoted defender
and humble helper of the holy church, to all ranks
of ecclesiastical piety and dignities of secular power
the salutation of perpetual peace and blessedness in
Christ our Lord, the God eternal. Regarding with
the peaceful consideration of a pious mind, together
with our priests and counsellors, the abundant clem-
ency of Christ our King towards us and towards our
people, and how needful it is not only with the
whole heart and mouth to return thanks continually
for his compassion, but also by a constant exercise
of good works to show forth his praise, so that he
who has conferred such great honor upon our realm
may deign by his protection to preserve us and our
kingdom forever. Wherefore it has pleased us to
ask your ability, O pastors of the Church of Christ
and leaders of his flock, most shining lights of the
^ Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 639 ; " Mon. Sangall.," bk. 1 , c. x.

2 28 The Age of Charlemagne.

world, that by your watchful care and zealous ad-
monition you strive earnestly to lead God's people
to the pastures of eternal life, and to bring back the
erring sheep to safety within the strong walls of the
church, in the arms of your good examples and ex-
hortations, lest the treacherous wolf finding any
outside devour one who transgresses the canonical
sanctions or goes beyond the paternal traditions of
the universal councils. So by the great zeal of your
devotion admonishing and exhorting them, they
must be compelled at once to remain within the
paternal sanctions with a firm faith and steadfast
perseverance ; in which labor and zeal let your
holiness most surely know that our diligence will
co-operate with yours. Wherefore we have sent to
you our commissioners {iJiissi), who by the authority
of our name will with you correct all that needs cor-
rection. Moreover, we subjoin also some capitu-
laries from the canonical institutions^ which seem to
us to be most necessary. Let no one, I ask, judge
this pious admonition to be presumptuous whereby
we desire to correct what is in error, to do away
with what is superfluous and to strengthen that
which is right, but let him receive it with a favor-
able and charitable disposition ; for we read in the
Books of the Kings how the holy Josiah, going
about the kingdom given to him by God, correct-
ing and admonishing, strove to recall the people to
the worship of the true God ; not that I can make
myself his equal in holiness, but that we must ever

' The Dionysian Collection sent to Charles by Pope Hadrian
in 774.

The Gefieral Admonition. 229

follow the example of the holy men everywhere,
and, as far as we can, join in the endeavor after a
good life to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ."

After this noble introduction, unquestionably
written by Charles himself, the capitularies proceed
to enforce certain of the decrees of the Council of
Nice and of Chalcedon as well as of Antioch, Sar-
dica, and other minor councils. Appeal is made
also to the decrees of Popes Leo, Innocent, and
Siricius.

Further capitularies of a general significance are
then added, and are here numbered as in the orig-
inal :

"61. First of all, that the Catholic faith may be
diligently taught and preached to all the people by
the bishops and presbyters, because this is the first
commandment of the Lord God Almighty in the
law, ' Hear, O Israel : The Lord our God is one
Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind, and with all thy strength. ' '

'' 62. That there may be peace and harmony and
concord with all Christian people among bishops,
abbots, counts, judges, and all people everywhere,
the least as well as the greatest, because nothing is
pleasing to God without peace, not even the gift of
the holy oblation at the altar."

Then follow many appropriate quotations from
the gospels and epistles relating to love and justice
and the other" precepts of the gospel."

' Deut. vi. 4, 5 ; as quoted in St. Mark xii. 29, 30.

TJie Age of CJiarleinagne.

" 70. That the bishops should cliHgcntly examine
the presbyters in their diocese as to their faith and
celebrations of baptisms and masses, that they hold
the right faith and administer baptisms according to
the Catholic usage, and well understand the prayers
of the mass, and that the Psalms be properly sung
according to the divisions of the verses, that they
understand the Lord's Prayer, and preach so as to
be understood by all, that each may know what he
asks of God ; and that the Gloria Patri be sung by
all Vvdth due honor, and the priest himself with the
holy angels and the people of God together sing the
SanctiLS, Sancttis, Sanctus, And by all means the
presbyters and deacons must be told that they may
not bear arms, but trust in the protection of God
rather than in arms.

"71. Likewise it has pleased us to admonish your
reverence that each one of you should see that
throughout his diocese the Church of God has its
due honor, and that the altars are venerated accord-
ing to their dignity, that the house of God and the
sacred altars may not be accessible to dogs, and
that the vessels consecrated to God may be gathered
up with great care and treated with respect by those
who are worthy. Also that secular business and
vain conversation be not carried on in the churches,
because the house of God should be a house of
prayer and not a den of thieves ; and that the peo-
ple have minds intent upon God when they come to
the solemn service of the mass, and let them not
depart before the ending of the priestly benedic-
tion."

Ecclesiastical and Secular Affairs,

2X\

Just as plain and explicit directions are ^nven re-
garding scriptural preaching according to the Niccne
Creed, denouncing crimes, admonishing to virtues.
This document, worthy of a modern bishop's pas-
toral, concludes with these words :

So, most beloved, let us with all our heart pre-
pare ourselves in the knowledge of tlie truth, that
we may be able to resist those who deny the truth,
and that the Word of God, by the favor of divine
grace, may increase and extend and be multiplied
to the benefit of God's Holy Church, and to the sal-
vation of our souls and to the praise and glory of
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace to the
preachers, grace to the obedient, and glory to our
Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."'

It should be noted that this capitulary not only
sets forth precepts of a very high order belonging
to a truly spiritual Christianity, but also gives evi-
dence of high attainments in the Prankish Church,
which alone could justify or offer a sufficient basis
for such a general admonition with any prospect of
its being received and obeyed.

Thus the rule of Charles included ecclesiastical
and secular affairs, and to the details of each he
gave his most careful attention. The canons of the
church had the same weight as the laws of the state,
and the assemblies of the state were also synods of
the church. The heresies of Bishop Felix and the
decisions of the Council of Constantinople in regard
to image worship were condemned in the same as-
semblies that issued laws against political offences
' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 52-62 ; " Admonitio Generalis," 789 a.d.

232 The Age of Charlemagne,

and regulations for the order and administration of
the state. Indeed, the capitularies largely included
regulations for the clergy, the churches, and the
cloisters, while the decretals of Rome, the canons
of the councils, and the fundamental principles of
the church were made valid in the Prankish kin";-
dom through these assemblies. Charles was occu-
pied especially with the life and conduct, the educa-
tion and the learning of the clergy, for he realized
the great importance of their position and functions
not only to the church, but to the state as well.'
He appointed bishops^ just as he did secular ofificials,
and employed them as commissioners and ministers
of his will, holding them responsible in the same
way and to the same extent that he did the dukes
and counts and other lay officials.^ He adminis-
tered ecclesiastical property as he did state property,
and was the supreme lord of the church in his do-
^ I main.* In the writings of the scholars whom Charles
/had gathered around him the idea was developed
/ and established of one large comprehensive Chris-
! tian kingdom, in which ecclesiastical and political
\ interests are bound up together under the care and
' guidance of one and the same ruler, inspired by the
teachings of Christianity and acting for the spiritual,
moral, and temporal welfare of his people. We
have seen the growth of this theocratic idea, bor-
rowed from the books of the Old Testament, em-

* Boretius, vol. i., pp. 79, 80, 241.
' Waitz, vol. iii., p. 424, note 2.

' Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 634, 635 ; " Men. Sangall," bk. i., c. iv., v.
^ " Bishop of the Bishops," Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 655 ; " Mon. San-
gall.," bk. i., c. XXV.

The Spanish Campaign. 233

phasized by the early Christian writers, and applied
with increasing significance to the Frankish kings,
who from the time of Clovis appeared as the pro-
moters of Christianity, and claimed to fight their
battles for the cause of God, until with the corona-
tion of Pippin, first by the Frankish bishops and
three years later by the pope, the idea receives a
firm and substantial basis. The words of Pippin
expressing this view are not uncommon. " Because
it is certain that the divine providence has raised us
to the throne," or " Because we through divine
compassion rule the kingdoms of the earth," or

By the aid of God who has established us on the
throne of our power." * While these expressions
become quite usual in the mouth of Charles, who
speaks not only of the people and the kingdom
granted by God, but also of the bishoprics and
monasteries committed or entrusted to his govern-
ance,' the ecclesiastical chroniclers, however, more
often speak of the kingdom or the empire as an
office, although an office conferred by God, and
they do not cease to emphasize duties and obliga-
tions therewith conferred.

In concluding this chapter we must refer to two
campaigns by Charles which deserve our notice on
account of the special interest attaching to each of
them. The first was the romantic but fruitless
campaign connected with his expedition into Spain.
At the Diet of Paderborn, in jj'j, a number of
Mahometan ambassadors appeared before Charles

* Waitz, vol. iii., p. 231, note 3.

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 79, " De litteris colendis."

234 "^^^^ ^S^ ^f Charlemagne.

on behalf, they said, of the large number of Arabs
in Spain already dissatisfied with the rule of their
Emir at Cordova.

They had heard of Charles. The glory of his
martial deeds had reached them in their home be-
yond the Pyrenees. They accordingly sent Ibn-al-
Arabi, governor of Saragossa, with others, who put
themselves under the king's protection^ and to gain
his aid in throwing off the rule of the^'EmijiJ Charles
accepted their offer, and preparations were made
during the winter for the great exploit from v/hich
so much was expected — even no less than the win-
ning back of Spain to Europe and to Christianity.
In the spring two armies, made up from all the peo-
ple in alliance with the Franks, started for the south,
one army headed by Duke Bernard, the uncle of
Charles and his foremost general, to go by way of
the Mediterranean, the other, commanded by Charles
himself, over the Pyrenees and through the valley
of Roncesvalles.^ Both armies were to meet at
Saragossa, which Ibn-al-Arabi was to surrender at
their call. All went well until their meeting before
the walls of the city, which they found closed against
them. The inhabitants and defenders of the city
failed to concur with the plans of their governor, or,
more probably, the fulfilment of his threats by the
presence of Charles with his army had enabled him
to secure the concessions he had demanded. What
took place at Saragossa we do not know, for the
chroniclers on each side exaggerate their own ex-
ploits and contradict those of the other side. Cer-

' " Einhardi Ann.," an. 77S ; " Vita," c. 9.

The ''Song of RolajidJ' 235

tain it is that the Spanish expedition of Charles was
a failure, and his army was snatched from defeat
and destruction only by his shrewd and cautious
generalship in leading- his armies in their retreat
through the dangerous and hostile country. One
disaster occurred. In an attack made on the rear-
guard, while passing through the valley of Ronces-
valles, the Franks in that division were killed to a
man. It was this disaster which has been made the
subject of legend and of song, for here fell Roland,
the prefect of the marches of Brittany, whose last
bugle call Charles is said to have heard faintly, far
off in the distance, without realizing the danger of
his friend and hero.

The famous *' Song of Roland" of the romance
writers is founded upon this incident, which has
been set forth in the well-known lines of Scott :

" O for the voice of that wild horn
On Fontarabian echoes borne,
The dying hero's call,
That told imperial Charlemagne
How Paynim sons of swarthy Spain
Had wrought his champion's fall." '

Soon after this, in 779, Charles prepared for a sec-
ond journey to Italy, and in the winter of 780 took
up his residence in the palace of Pavia. From here
he put forth two capitularies," that he might estab-
lish order and discipline and much-needed reform in
the country. Among other evils, Christian and
pagan serfs were sold into slavery. On his way to

1 " Rob Roy," chap. ii.

5 Boretius, vol. i., pp. 206, 207, No. 99 ; pp. 190, 191, No. 90.

236 TJlc Age of Charlemagne.

Rome Charles stopped at Parma, and there for the
first time met Alcuin on his way to England carry-
ing the pall granted by the pope to the archbishop
of York. Easter was spent at Rome, and Karl-
mann, the second son of Charles, was baptized with
the name of Pippin, the pope himself standing as
his godfather ; he was then crowned king of Italy,
though only four years of age, and his younger
brother, Louis, was crowned king of Aquitaine at the
age of three. The entrance of Louis into his king-
dom of Aquitaine deserves description. A company
of good nurses under strong military escort took
charge of his youthful majesty of Aquitaine, and
conducted him in a cradle from the banks of the
Meuse to the banks of the Loire at Orleans, where
they took him out of the cradle and prepared him
for a more dignified and martial presentation to the
people. They encased him in a coat of mail ex-
pressly constructed for his tender frame, gave him
suitable weapons, and set him on a charger, and as
he was too small to guide it or to sit alone they
held him in place, and thus introduced him into his
dominions.*

It was about ten years after the fruitless campaign
into Spain that Charles determined upon the con-
quest of the Avars, which resulted finally in another
conversion of the remnant of a great people to
Christianity. Only just before he had succeeded in
bringing to submission two refractory dukes. Urged
by Pope Hadrian, in 787, he had forced the duke of
Benevento to acknowledge his supremacy and to
' " Vita Hludowici ;" M. G. SS., vol. ii.

Benevento and Bavaria. 237

take the oath of allegiance to him,' a peace which
enabled Charles to add much to the papal posses-
sions— Capua, Populonia, Rosellee, and possibly
Sovona, Toscanella, Viterbo, Bagnaria, and some
other cities of Benevento.' Charles immediately
afterwards proceeded against Tassilo, the duke of the
Bavarians. In 788, at the Diet of Ingelheim, both
the duke and his wife were seized and their children
arrested. Tassilo was doomed to death, but Charles
commuted the sentence to the monastic life, a favor-
ite mode of punishing kings and great lords, by get-
ting rid of them quite effectually without putting
them to death. The other members of the ducal
family were scattered in the monasteries and nun-
neries of the realm. After the overthrow of the
duke Charles proceeded to subdue the duchy. He
established a military occupation of its boundaries,
annexed the whole territory to his kingdom, and
turned it into a Frankish province governed by the
counts of his appointment in the various districts,
with Duke Ceroid, his brother-in-law, as legal gov-
ernor, and required the Bavarian nobles to swear
fealty to him, and to guarantee their allegiance by
giving hostages.

He then turned his attention to the Avars. They
were a savage and barbarous people living on the
Bavarian frontiers. Lawless and fierce, they pil-
laged and devastated the country, burning and de-
stroying the churches. They were, as their prede-

' "Ann. Lauriss.,"an. 7S7 ; M. G. SS , vol. i., p. 16S ; Einhard,
" Vita," c. 10.
' Abel-Simson, vol. i., pp. 571, 572.

238 The Age of CJiarlcmagnc.

cessors under Attila in the fifth century had been,
the Scourge of God. They were the terror of all
Europe. War against them would be exceedingly
popular, and Charles undertook it, the chronicler
says, with more spirit than any of his other wars,
and made far greater preparations for it.' Three
army corps were formed — the Italians under the
dukes of Friuli and Istria, with King Pippin as nom-
inal head, the forces of Gaul and Germany under
Charles himself, while the Bavarian forces brought
a fleet and sailed down the Danube. At the bor-
ders of the realm a fast and service of litanies last-
ing^ for three days formed the religious inauguration
of the war.* A sudden and brilliant victory by the
army of Pippin, and the consequent demoralization
and flight of a host of Avars, marked an auspicious
opening to the campaign.' A wholesale baptism of
the conquered people followed, but the same faith-
lessness and spirit of revolt were seen in them as
characterized the Saxons. The first campaign closed
in 791, but it was not until 803 that the final regula-
tion of the Avar affairs was made. In many of the
expeditions great booty was secured, the Avars hav-
ing large stores of gold and silver. The last appear-
ance of the Avars was in 805, when the weakened
and diminished people, exposed to the incessant
depredations of the Slavonians, from Vv^hich they
were no longer able to defend themselves, went
humbly into the presence of their chief to beg the

' Einhard, "Vita,"c. 13.

* Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 349, 350; Ep, Carol. 6; a letter from
Charles to his Queen Fastrada.

2 " Einhardi Ann.," an. 791 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 177.

The Coiiqicest of tJic ylvars. 239

aid of the Emperor Charles, and to ask his permis-
sion to settle on the little tract of land on the bank
of the river Danube within the Frankish dominions.'
The piteous appeal of their heart-broken Christian
Avar chieftain, standing on the verge of the grave,
told most eloquently and most pathetically what
the Franks had done.

* " Einhardi Ann.," an. 805 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 192.

CHAPTER XXII.

IMPERIAL ADMINISTRATION — CENTRAL AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT — THE MISSI — THE ASSEMBLIES
— THE CAPITULARIES.

|T is an oft-debated question whether
Charles was greater as a general in war
or as a ruler in administration. A mod-
ern historian^ says that he was greater as
a conqueror than as a law-giver, while
Gibbon estimates his military powers lightly, and
says, " Charles might behold with envy the Saracen
trophies of his grandfather." " But," he con-
tinues, " I touch with reverence the laws of Charle-
magne. ' ' "

We have noticed already some of the examples of
his early legislation. As emperor he carried out
more fully and organized more systematically the
administration already established. The greatness
of Charles is not in question, the object is to decide
in what that greatness consisted. Paulus Diaconus
says of him : " One knows not which to admire
most in this great man, his bravery in war or his
wisdom in peace, the glory of his military achieve-

' Andrews, pp. 138, 139 and note i. ^ Gibbon, c. 49.

240

The Greatness of Charles. 241

ments or the splendor of his triumphs in tlic liberal
arts.'". Although the second king of his lunise,
he gave his name to the whole dynasty, and the
entire period before and after him is known as the
" Ageof Charlesthe Great." The preceding events
prepared and led up to his crowning work, while
the events of the century succeeding were permeated
by his influence and felt the inspiration of what he
had accomplished. The revolution which placed
his family upon the throne had been effected by his
father, and the kingly rule already established was
handed on to him, but the glory of his defence
and administration of the kingdom thus received
eclipsed that of his predecessors, although without
them his work would not have been possible. Yet
all that he accomplished seemed destined to be
overthrown and to leave no permanent results, and
this, which is merely a superficial view, though held
by many historians, Guizot tells us, would compare
him to a meteor dashing out from the shades of bar-
barism, only to disappear and be lost in the dark-
ness of feudalism."

The work of Charles was of a threefold nature : to
guard what had already been established, to strength-
en by extension where necessary, and to consolidate
and centralize the power necessary for accomplish-
ing this work. After the death of Charles con-
quests ceased, unity disappeared, and the empire fell
apart, but the different parts were not as they had
been before their union. Great and glorious as it was,
the empire formed under Charles the Great was not,

' Quoted by Alzog, vol. ii., p. iS8. ' Guizot, Lecture xx.

P

242 The Age of Charlemagne.

and, in the nature of things, could not be permanent,
but the work of Charles, even though it did not remain
in the form in which he left it, was nevertheless the
necessary preparation for the founding of great na-
tions with definite boundaries, fixed centres, and
established aims and purposes, capable of self-de-
fence and of self-development. The imperial organ-
ization itself, which Charles realized for a moment,
was a dream and not a. reality, the form of which
disappeared when the spirit had fled and the source
of its power and unity was withdrawn. It was in
that \vhich he was able to accomplish for the differ-
ent elements of his great empire that the true suc-
cess of his endeavor lies.

His administration divided itself naturally into
the local and the central government. The oldest
parts of his kingdom and those nearer the centre
were divided into districts of varying size, over
Avhich he appointed counts, usually from noble fam-
ilies residing in the district. The larger and more
distant and later added territories were ruled by
dukes, in most cases the descendants or successors
of the early kings of the country before it was
merged into the Frankish Empire. On the borders
of the realm still larger single districts were formed,
not so directly under the rule of Charles, and each
was placed under a mark-count or margrave, later
marquis, from the German mark-graf. These border
provinces served as a protection to the kingdom
within and as a defence and guard against barbarian
tribes without.

Associated with these dukes and counts were

^ Mi SSI DomL

inici.

243

archbishops, bishops, and abbots, who had ecclesi-
astical supervision in connection with their office,
and exercised a certain jurisdiction on account of
their position, while under these higher officers
were lower ranks of resident officials — judges, cen-
turions, and others. These all held lands from the
king, and exercised their powers partly in his name
and partly in their own.

In addition to these resident officials were the
royal commissioners, missi dominici, authorized
agents of his power, to oversee, to perform, to ad-
minister, and to report to him the complaints w^hich
they received and the duties w^hich they performed.
By their aid Charles endeavored to enforce his own
authority, to make his influence felt in the remotest
borders of his kingdom, and to correct abuses aris-
ing from the greed and incompetence or indifference
of his counts and their subordinates. The report
which they brought back often led to new acts of
legislation set forth in the capitularies. The organ-
ization and establishment of these commissioners
formed a characteristic feature of Charles's admin-
istration, though they w^ere not originated by him.
However, they were not employed probably by any
of his kings or mayors of the palace previous to
Charles Martel. After the conquest of Aquitaine
we find them mentioned in the Aquitanian capitu-
laries put forth by Pippin in the following law :
** Whatever our commissioners and elders of the
king have determined for our own benefit and that
of the whole church let us not presume to oppose." '
» BorQtjus, vol. i., p. 43 ; Cap. Aq., c. 12, 768 .\.i),

244 ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^f Charlemagne.

In 782 they appear in a military capacity, Charles
having sent three to conduct the army against a few
Slavs who had risen in revolt,' while there are many
instances in which they take command of the troops
in the field.

Pippin in administering the kingdom of Italy sub-
ject to his father sent two ecclesiastical commission-
ers to inspect the monasteries and to report their
condition both moral and material/ They held also
a most important place and exercised a very great
influence among the Saxons. As we have seen
already, no general assemblies were to be held
among the Saxons unless the order was sent through
the commissioners, and the importance of these
officers is seen from the fact that they are granted
the triple wergeld of the highest dignitaries.
Among the first acts of the newly crowned emperor
on returning to his own country, in 802, was the
complete organization of his vast dominions, and in
this work appears the tremendous energy and won-
derful ability which he possessed, and which were
so necessary to hold together realms so diverse in
language, in customs, and in race. For the per-
formance of this great task he developed and put
into general operation this system of commissioners.

The best and earliest evidence as to the nature of
the government of Charles as emperor may be found
in the great capitulary of 802 regarding these com-
missioners, from which a few quotations should be
made.

"Ann. Lauriss.," an. 782 ; M. G, SS., vol. i., p. 162.
Boretius, vol. i., p. 199; Cap. Pap,, c. n, 787 a.d.

The Imperial Governmeiit. 245

" The most serene and Cliristian lord emperor,
Charles, has chosen from his nobles and sent into
all parts of his kingdom the wisest and most pru-
dent men, both archbishops, bishops, venerable
abbots, and pious laymen, and through them has
granted to all persons to live according to just law.
Moreover, wherever otherwise than justly and
rightly anything has been established by law, this
he has commanded them with most diligent zeal to
seek out and to lay before him, and this he himself
by divine favor desires to improve. And let no one
by his own cleverness and astuteness, according to
the custom of many, dare to interfere with the writ-
ten law, or to disturb the course of justice, or to set
himself up against the churches of God, or poor
persons, or widows, or children, or any Christian
man, but let all men live according to the command
of God, justly and in accordance with the righteous
judgment, and let every one in his own place and
profession continue .to live in unity with others.
Let the canons in canonical life scrupulously abstain
from business and base gain. Let nuns with dili-
gent care guard their life. Let the laity and those
living in the world obey every law without fraud or
deceit, and in every particular live in perfect charity
and peace. Let the commissioners themselves dili-
gently make inquiry whenever any one complains
that wrong has been done him by another, as they
desire to keep the favor of God for themselves and
to preserve with fidelity what has been entrusted to
them, so that in all places everywhere in regard to
the holy churches of God, and in the case of poor

246 TJie Age of Charleinagne.

people, children, and widows, they may administer
the law fully and with justice for all people accord-
ing to the will and in the fear of God. And if there
is anything which by themselves, with the aid of
the provincial counts, they are unable to improve
and to bring to justice, let them refer this with their
report without ambiguity to the emperor's decision.
Nor for the flattery of any man, nor for the reward
of any, nor by reason of any kinship, nor by the
fear of those who are in power, let any man impede
the course of justice."

They are further instructed to receive from every
man, lay or ecclesiastic, upward of twelve years of
age, throughout the whole realm, an oath of fidelity
to Charles as emperor, and also from those who as
yet had taken no oath. Furthermore, they are to
explain the oath in public, so that each one may
understand how great is the oath, and how many
things are comprehended in it. We learn from
other capitularies that the commissioners were sent
in pairs, one ecclesiastic of high rank, usually a
bishop or archbishop, and the other a noble, usually
a count.'

Thus the intimate union and interdependence of
church and state were shown still further in the in-
stitution of the missi. Though usually, yet not
always, were they sent in pairs ; rarely one was sent
alone or to act with the bishop, but sometimes
three or four were sent. They acted also as special
ambassadors or legates. They were chosen not
exclusively, although generally, from the dukes or
' Boretius, vol. i., p. 100; Capit. Spec, 802 a.d.

Duties of tJic Missi. 247

counts, and archbishops, Ijisliops, or abbots, l)ut
they were taken also from all ranks, from the palace
officers down to ordinary vassnls and monks or
chaplains.

Their judicial duties were assigned as follows :
** We wish that for the purpose of the administra-
tion of justice, which has hitherto remained the
duty of the counts, that our missi should make a
circuit at least four times in every year — for the
winter, in January ; for the sprini^, in April ; for
the summer, in July ; and for the autumn, in Octo-
ber. In the other months, however, each of the
counts may hold his court and administer justice ;
but our missi should four times in the month, in
four different places, hold these courts with the
counts themselves who may be able to assemble at
that place." ' The courts held by these commis-
sioners used the simple and direct methods of ad-
ministering justice prevalent in the emperor's court,
of which, in fact, they were an extension. Local
justices {scabini) were appointed by the commis-
sioners or by the counts.

In the reform of the administration the commis-
sioners had power to remove incompetent or un-
worthy officials beneath the rank of count. They
might report charges against a count at their dis-
cretion, or might settle themselves upon him and
live in his house, keeping him under their continual
supervision, until he reformed in order to get rid of
them, and by the capitularies of 802, already men-
tioned, the counts were especially required to make
» Boretius, vol. i., p. I77 ; Cap. de Just., c. 8, 811-813 a.d.

248 The Age of Charlemagne.

due provision for the comfort and welfare of the
commissioners.

Definite districts were established first in 802,
though it is not known into how many districts the
empire was divided, and the extent of only three
provinces is known to us.' It is probable that the
districts were more or less permanent, but the
officers served at the pleasure of Charles, and they
were sometimes sent to districts in which they did
not reside. In the three provinces already men-
tioned, however, the commissioners were residents
of their jurisdictions. Under Louis the Pious, when
the strong hand of Charles was withdrawn, the dis-
tricts tended to become identical with the archbish-
oprics, and the decentralizing tendency of the age
operated to make the commissioners local lords, in-
dependent of the emperor, as the counts had become
before them.

Their reports were made at irregular intervals to
the emperor, but also annually at the general as-
sembly held in May, by which the local government
was brought into touch with the central. Thus
they were the immediate personal representatives of
the emperor. An armed opposition to them was
punishable with death as treason. The oversight
of the administration of justice, the holding of
courts, the administration of military affairs, the
defence of the frontier, the oversight of ecclesiasti-
cal affairs, the enforcement of the laws, and zeal for
the interests of the emperor were all duties entrusted
to the commissioners, not as before on particular

^ Boretius, vol. i., p. 100 ; Cap, Spec. 802 A.D.

The General Assonblies and Synods. 249

occasions for special purposes, but as re^ailar dele-
gates and representatives of the imperial power for
all purposes residing and having authority in well-
defined districts.

The central government of Charles the Great was
carried on largely through the national assemblies,
and although for some time the ecclesiastical coun-
cils had also served to carry on state affairs, yet later
they joined their deliberations with those of the
spring assembly, an institution which had come
down from early German times. As we have already
seen, under Karlmann and Pippin yearly synods
were ordered to be held,' and later they were to be
summoned twice a year, March ist and October
ist.^ Thus as one synod coincided with the March-
field, so the other appears to have been the occasion
given for holding a political assembly in the autumn.

In 75 S, for- the first time, the assembly, which had
previously been held in March, was changed to May
for military reasons, and hence was called the May-
field. Charles kept the name, though frequently
the assembly was held later in the year, in June, or
in July, or even in August, the time as well as place
being determined by military considerations, al-
though it was held even when no campaigns oc-
curred that year.' Later military affairs were put
in the background, civil and ecclesiastical concerns
being foremost. Sometimes both the ecclesiastical
and the state assembly were separated, but held at

1 Boretius, vol. i., pp. 25, 29, 742. 744 A.n.

2 Ibid., p. 34, 755 A.D. ^, „ ^^ ,

3 " Ann. Petav.,' an. 781 ; M. G. SS., vol.

250 The Age of Charlemagne.

the same time and place ; ' sometimes they were
divided into three groups or houses, the archbishops
and bishops in one, the abbots and monks in another,
and the nobles and military officers in the third ; "^
sometimes five different places are named for differ-
ent assemblies at the same time/ The fullest de-
scription of these assemblies has come down to us
from Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims. He tells us
that Adalhard, an old and wise man, who was inti-
mately associated with the Emperor Charles the
Great, being one of his chief counsellors and abbot
of the monastery of Corbie, had written a little
book, Dc Ordine Palatii, now lost. This book he
had seen in his youth, had read and copied, and in
this copy he presents to us a good description of
the constitutional arrangements of the central gov-
ernment of Charles. " The whole administration
of the realm," he says, " was carried on in two dif-
ferent divisions. The first, the careful ruling and
ordering of the palace, and the second, the care for
the whole kingdom as it was provided for in the
general assemblies." These general assemblies it
was customary to hold not oftener than twice a year ;
the first, at which the affairs of the kingdom were
arranged for the next year, not to be changed ex-
cept in cases of dire necessity. At this assembly
appeared the whole body of the chiefs and nobles,
both ecclesiastic and lay. The more distinguished
in order to give weight and authority to their con-

' " Einhardi Ann.," an. 794 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 181.
^ " Ann. Lauresh.," an. 802 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 39.
^ " Einhardi Ann.," an, 813 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 200.

The Spriiig Assonbly or May field. 25 1

elusions, the lesser in order to earry them out. Yet
all labored together and arrived at their conclusions
according to their own opinions and judgment.
Here, too, they were engaged in arranging for the
yearly gifts. The second assembly, on the con-
trary, was held only with the counsellors of higher
rank and authority, and matters relating to affairs
of the realm for the following year were considered.
In case something came up for which it appeared
necessary to lay down rules or to make decisions
beforehand, or if anything enacted the preceding
year failed of its purpose, or for which the necessity
arose for immediate action ; for example, in case of
rights conferred on the margraves in any part of the
realm, whether these rights, having lapsed, should be
renewed or terminated ; also other matters relating
to war or peace imminent in different quarters, so
that the seniors might consider long enough before-
hand, by their counsel, what action ought to be
taken.

These plans and deliberations were kept secret
until the next general assembly, that they might
not be frustrated, but that they might be put in
such a way as to commend themselves to the other
seniors and to satisfy the popular will. As far as
possible men were chosen as counsellors, both cleri-
cal and lay, who feared God and were so faithful that,
eternal life excepted, they would put nothing before
the emperor and the empire.

Furthermore, in order that the business of these
nobles and chief senators of the realm might begin
at once, lest they should seem to have been con-

252 The Age of Charlemagne.

vokcd witliout good reason, the matters which had
come into his own mind by the inspiration of God,
or had been brought to his attention since the pre-
vious assembly, were immediately laid before them
in capitularies already drawn up and arranged.
These were then taken up for consideration, the
space of one, two, or three days or more, as the im-
portance of the subject demanded, being granted
them. Palace messengers passed back and forth,
asking the emperor's opinions and receiving his re-
plies. No one from outside was allowed to come in
until each matter was settled to the advantage of
the most glorious prince, then everything was set
forth in " his venerable sight and hearing, and all are
guided by whatever his God-given wisdom chooses."
In the meanwhile the emperor elsewhere was busy,
receiving gifts, giving audiences, and attending to
other like affairs of state, yet as often as they de-
sired he went to them and remained with them as
long as they wished, and in the most familiar way
they reported to him how each matter stood, and
freely set forth what changes or modifications they
had discussed.

If the weather was favorable these meetings were
held out of doors, but if not, inside, in different
places, where they gathered in large numbers in
separate groups, so arranged that in one all the
bishops, abbots, and other most honorable clergy
were assembled, without any laymen being present ;
likewise all the counts and chief men and others of
like honor, separated from the rest of the multitude
early in the morning, until all were assembled,

The Fall Assembly. 25,

whether the emperor was present or absent, and
then the aforesaid seniors in their accustomed man-
ner withdrew, the clergy to their appointed assem-
bly, and the laity to theirs, seats being prepared for
them with due honor.

A second method of the emperor was to inquire
what each had brought with him from his own part
of the realm worth relating or considering, for they
were not only permitted, but positively commanded
to inquire most diligently into matters within and
outside the empire, not only from natives or from
foreigners, but even from friends or from foes — if
any people in any part were in revolt, and the cause
of the revolt ; if there was any murmuring or any
complaint of injustice, or anything else which the
general council ought to consider ; and if beyond
the boundaries of the empire any people who had
been subdued were rebelling, or any who had re-
belled w^ere being subdued, or if any secret plots
were being formed against the empire. In all these
things he carefully asked what dangers threatened
and what was the cause of them.'

The second assembly, held in the fall of the year,
was rarely, but still sometimes of direct importance,'
and became more important under Louis the Pious.
These fall assemblies, like those of the spring, were
not held at any regular time — some in August, some

' Migne, Series Secunda, vol. cxxv., pp. 998 ff. ; Hincmar, " De
Ordine Palatii," c. 12, 29, 34. 35 and 36.

'^ ^. ^., October, 797, Boretius, vol. i., p. 71, Second Saxon
Capitulary; October, S02. Boretius, vol. i., pp. 105-111, impor-
tant ecclesiastical rules; December, 805, Boretius, vol. i., pp.
120-126, a double capitulary.

254 ^^^^ ^£^^ ^y Charlemagne.

in October or November. In the winter of 818-819
one was held after Christmas, the next assembly
being held in July, 819, while another in January,
820, and the next in February, May, and October
of 821 ; that held in October being the greatest and
general assembly for that year. Nor was there any-
thing definite regarding the place of these assem-
blies. As long as military considerations governed,
the place as well as the time was determined accord-
ing to the object of the campaign ; also the character
of the business or the special interests involved
often determined the place at which it should be
held ; otherwise Charles seemed to prefer the cities
on the Rhine, especially Worms and Aachen. Un-
der Louis the Pious they were held frequently at
Aachen. They were usually held at one of the im-
perial palaces or in large cities, rarely at a monas-
tery, and then it is expressly stated as being con-
trary to the custom.^ Attendance at these assem-
blies was a duty and an obligation rather than a
right or privilege. Although the spring assembly,
the Mayfield, was regarded as a popular assembly,
and had come down from the earlier times, when the
whole nation assembled all together, it is probable
that the people came to have a less and less impor-
tant part, and were satisfied by the announcement
of what was there concluded. Guizot, perhaps, is
too one-sided in saying that " it was not the Prank-
ish nation that came to these assemblies to watch
over and to direct the administration, but it was
Charles the Great who gathered around him certain
^ " Ann. Bert.," an. 846 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 33.

TJie Capitiilayics. 255

individuals to watch over and to direct the nation." '
Lehuerou also goes too far when he says that " the
Carolingian royalty, even under Charles the Great,
is less a monarchy than an aristocratic government," "
though as long as Charles lived he took tlie initia-
tive, proposing subjects and matter for deliberation
and action. Louis, however, said that he would do
nothing without the agreement of the nobles.

In good weather these meetings were held in the
open air, and when the weather would not permit
of this some large public building was used. Mat-
ters coming up for consideration at these meetings
covered every variety of subjects, as is shown in
the capitularies which they issued. One of the
most varied, perhaps, being that of the year 794,
the famous assembly of Frankfort, which began
with the condemnation of the Adoptionists and of
the Constantinopolitan decrees on image worship,
went on to consider the jurisdiction of bishops over
their clergy, the election of abbots, the tariff on
grains and bread, the care of orphans, the adoration
of saints, the giving of alms to the poor, and the
qualifications of cellarists in monasteries.

The capitularies are of great interest and impor-
tance, not only in giving an idea of the method of
administration, but also in showing the condition of
the empire, ecclesiastically and morally as well as
socially and politically. Guizot has given us the
most interesting and fullest description of their con-
tents, and although it is impossible to make the

' Guizot, " Essais," p. 336.
- Lehuerou, p. 294.

256 The Age of Charlemagne.

sharp distinctions which he makes between the vari-
ous articles, yet the general conclusions which he
presents are instructive. After numbering those
issued by Charles the Great, of which he has col-
lected and analyzed about sixty-five,^ he finds that
about three fifths of the articles are occupied v/ith
civil affairs, and about two fifths with religious or
ecclesiastical concerns. These capitularies are not
merely collections of laws, although they do empha-
size and restate the traditional customs of the older
time, adding such new regulations as may meet the
later conditions, but in addition to this they include
moral precepts and police regulations, sometimes in
the minutest details, relating to the church, army,
the poor, and the palace, penal regulations relating
to punishment and crime, the regulation of the re-
ligious and ecclesiastical life of the clergy, entering
sometimes into the minutest details in regard to the
veneration of martyrs and of saints, and concerning
public preaching. They also contained instructions
to the commissioners, extracts from the ecclesiasti-
cal councils, replies given by Charles to the ques-
tions addressed by counts, bishops, and others in
relation to difficulties in administration, also some
questions which Charles proposes to ask in the gen-
eral assembly. These questions are curious in the
extreme, and give striking evidence of the keenness
of his observation and of his skill in administration
and in dealing with men.

** Why is it that either on the march or in the

' Boretius has published one hundred and thirteen ; M. G. LL.,
section ii., vol. i.

Qtiestions Charles Proposed to ^isk. 257

camp, when anything is necessary to be done for
the defence of the country, one does not wish to
lend aid to another ? Whence comes this continual
struggle by which each one wishes to have that
which he sees possessed by another ? To ask in
what matters and in what places ecclesiastics put
obstacles in the way of laymen, and laymen in the
way of ecclesiastics, in the exercise of their func-
tions. To seek out and to discuss how far a bishop
or an abbot should interfere in secular affairs, and a
count or other layman in ecclesiastical affairs. To
ask them in an emphatic manner regarding the
meaning of the words of the apostle, ' No man that
warreth in the service of God entangleth himself
with the affairs of this life.' To whom were these
words addressed ? To ask the bishops and abbots
to declare to us truly what these words mean which
they use so often, ' to renounce the world,' and
by what sign one can distinguish those who re-
nounce the world from those who are still occupied
with it.

'* Whether it is only by the fact that they do not
bear arms and are not publicly married ? Also to
ask if he is renouncing the world who labors each
day, no matter how, to increase his wealth, some-
times promising the happiness of the kingdom of
heaven, and sometimes threatening with the eternal
punishments of hell ; or even in the name of God,
or of some saint, despoiling of his goods some man,
rich or poor, guileless and ill-advised, so that his
rightful heirs are left in want, and most of them, on
account of the misery in which they fall, driven to
Q

258 The Age of Charlemagne.

all sorts of evil and crime and committing almost
necessarily misdemeanors and offences." ^

Other articles of these capitularies are merely
notes or memoranda which Charles wrote for his
own convenience. Others contain judicial decisions
to be taken as examples or standards of punishment.
Affairs of financial or domestic legislation are also
considered as well as purely political acts, nomina-
tions, recommendations, and matters relating to in-
dividual cases. Thus is shown not only the wide
range of the administration of Charles, but the ac-
tive personal interest which he took in every single
detail. No wonder that with his fall fell also the
central administration, the general assemblies, and
the royal commissioners.

Nothing resembled feudalism less than the sover-
eign unity to which Charles aspired, and which in a
great degree he was able to attain, yet in his reign
were laid the strongest foundations of feudalism.
By checking invasions and repressing internal dis-
orders he gave to the local positions, tendencies,
and influences time to take real possession of the
land, and its inhabitants and the individual officers,
the dukes, the counts and margraves, whom he so
firmly established, and who were the chief ministers
of his authority, and performed their functions in
dependence upon him and under his control, be-
came the well-nigh independent feudal lords in suc-
ceeding centuries.

' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 161-165, 811 A.D.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THEOLOGICAL CONTROVERSIES — IMAGE WORSIIIl'
— ADOPTIANISM — THE FILIOQUE CLAUSE —
" VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS."

T was not only in the ecclesiastical organi-
zation, nor in his relations with the pope,
however, that the religious activity and
the control over the church by Charles
was shown. In three important contro-
versies which rose during his reign he exercised a
powerful and manifest influence.

The Iconoclastic controversy had continued in the
East until the death of the last Leo, in 780, placed
Irene in power as regent in behalf of her son. She
had already shown evidences of a zeal for image
worship, and had made attempts to bring about its
restoration, and now, anxiously and carefully, she
began preparations for a determined action. In 786
a new council was held at Constantinople, in which,
it is true, a majority of the bishops still maintained
their hostility to images, and the council was dis-
solved, but in the next year a general council was
summoned at Nica^a. At this council, under the
influence of the empress, those who had been won

259

26o The Age of Charleniag,

lie

over to her cause, with the rest of the number of
upholders of image worship, were enabled to bring
about a final decision in favor of the restoration of
images. Those bishops who signed a formal recan-
tation of their former opposition were allowed to
retain their episcopal positions, and every effort was
made to render easy the desertion from the still
pow^erful number of the iconoclasts. At this coun-
cil it was decided that not only the sign of the cross,
but also images drawn with colors, composed with
mosaic work, or formed with other suitable mate-
rial, might be placed in the churches, in houses, and
in the streets, including images of Christ, of the
Virgin Mary, of angels, and of all holy and devout
men. It was also declared that bowing to an image,
which is simply the token of love and of reverence
{nftoanvvrjaii), ought not to be confounded with
the adoration (Xarftsia) which is due to God alone.
The decrees of this council were confirmed at an
adjourned assembly in Constantinople in the pres-
ence of the empress and her son, and the worship
of images was once more established.

The relation of the pope to this controversy we
have already noticed at its very beginning in the
early part of the eighth century. What had been
the prevailing sentiment in the Prankish Church we
have no means of knowing, but there could be no
doubt regarding the position taken by Charles on
this question. He at once announced himself as
zealously opposed to the decree of this second
Nicene Council regarding image worship, an oppo-
sition which was increased and expressed itself more

The Caroline Books, 261

bitterly in consequence of the breaking off, in that
same year, all negotiations regarding the betrothal
of Constantine to the Prankish princess, Rothrud.
Soon after the famous work entitled " The Four
Caroline Books" appeared in 790, under the em-
peror's name, refuting the position laid down at the
second Nicene Council, and declaring the position
to be taken by the Prankish Church on this ques-
tion. The authorship of this work is still in dis-
pute, although Charles unquestionably was responsi-
ble for the opinions therein set forth, and gave to
them all the weight of his authority, and perhaps
had much to do with the very form of expression
which these ideas assume. Alcuin and the other
theologians of the court must, however, have held
a very important place in the actual composition.
The work is moderate in tone, sensible in expres-
sion, and at the same time shows the coloring of the
peculiar views and superstitions of the age. The
use is distinguished from the abuse of images in the
church, at the same time that the fanaticism of the
iconoclasts is condemned. Images might be used
for the decoration of the churches and for the memo-
rials of past events. They should not be regarded
as idols, as their opponents affirmed, though their
use was not necessary, nor ought it to be made of
such great importance as their supporters main-
tained. The harsh expressions against the icono-
clasts were condemned, as well as the principles and
arguments by which they were defended. This
enthusiasm for art and for images he regards as ab-
surd and foolish, and even underestimates the value

262 TJie Age of CJiarlemagne.

of pictures in depicting and representing the char-
acteristics of the mind and soul. The chief objec-
tion, however, is that they are in contradiction to
the spiritual nature of Christianity, and those who
rely upon them show a weakness and inability to
rise above the things of sense to the realm of spirit
without the help of material things. '* God who
fills all things is not to be adored or sought for in
material images, but should be ever present to the
pure heart." ^ To the sign of the cross, however,
is given an exceptional and much higher impor-
tance, and here it must be said the outv/ard symbol
and the idea represented by it are not kept distinctly
separate. The relics also of the saints are to be
preferred to images as having been in special con-
tact with these holy persons, thus acquiring a sacred-
ness which should receive a higher reverence than
that paid to pictured forms, the work of an artist
more or less skilled. To show reverence for the
bodies of saints was a great means of promoting
piety, for they reign with Christ in heaven, and
their bodies should rise again, but even the act of
prostration {npoanvvrfaiz^ before images was con-
demned as the transfer to a created object of the
adoration belonging to God alone and as a species
of idolatry, and any reverence for lifeless images
was irrational. " You may keep lights burning be-
fore your pictures," the king declares ; " we will
be diligent in studying the holy Scriptures." ^

In accordance with the close relations existing

* " Lib. Carol.," bk. iii., c. 29.
' Ibid., bk. ii., c. 30.

Adoptlanisvi. 263

between Charles and the pope, and his frequently-
expressed regard and reverence for the ecclesiastical
authority of the Church of Rome, he presented, by
the hands of Abbot Angilbert, his refutation of the
second Nicene Council to Pope Hadrian, from whom
a formal reply was received opposing the position
taken in the royal treatise, but apparently without
inducing Charles to yield anything. Finally, at the
assembly held at Frankfort, in 794, these contested
points were discussed in the presence of papal
legates, and the adoration of images [adoraiio ct scr-
vitus imaginuui) was condemned.

The second controversy in which Charles showed
his influence was that in regard to Adoptianism.
This theory, by which Christ was declared to be, as
far as his human nature was concerned, the adopted
Son of God, was not a mere revival of Nestorian
views, but a distinct development from the position
laid down by the church in the sixth general coun-
cil. It was presented most strongly and convinc-
ingly by Bishop Felix of Urgel, a diocese in the
Spanish mark, and less ably by Elipantus, the arch-
bishop of Toledo, who was supported by a large
number of the Spanish bishops. The Spanish
Church was of great strength and of no mean im-
portance. It had presented a remarkable theologi-
cal Hfe in the long Hst of the councils of Toledo, and
though it maintained not a close, but a continuous
connection with Rome, it had presented, neverthe-
less, a kind of established national spirit under the
archbishop of Toledo. It had passed through a
long and momentous history of struggle, of suffer-

264 The Age of Charlemagne.

ing, and of triumph. The Visigoths, originally
Arian, after the conversion of their king, Reccared,
became thoroughly orthodox, and gave evidence of
their faith in the famous filioque clause inserted in
the Nicene Creed by the third Council of Toledo in
589. At the beginning of the eighth century the
whole country had been overrun and finally con-
quered by the Mahometans, and in the middle of
the century a Western Saracenic empire had been
established under the Emir of Cordova, and although
the Christian worship was allowed by payment of a
tribute, yet the strong, overshadowing influence of
Mahometanism was keenly felt. A strong opposi-
tion to the very assertion of the divine nature in
Christ, as well as to the exclusion or undervaluing
of the human expressed in the condemned doctrines
of monophysitism and monothelitism made itself
manifest, and Elipantus himself was prominent in
the refutation of Sabellianism in 780. '' When,
therefore," says Dorner, '* the problem, in the form
in which it presented itself to the mind of the church
after the Dyotheletic Synod of the year 680, was
brought into contact with the factors embraced by
the Spanish Church, the result was Adoptianism." '
Adoptianism, however, was no mere revival of Nes-
torianism. It had passed beyond that stage of the
controversy. Nestorius and his followers had
directed their analysis to the distinction between
the two natures in Christ, while Adoptianism con-
cerned itself with the relations of personality and
gave evidence of a distinct advance in this concep-

' Dorner, division ii., vol. 1., p. 251.

Tendency Towards Transnbstantiation. 265

tion. Personality now denoted the Ego, the self,
and not a" constitutional principle of existence."
In other words, they really continued the position
maintained by the church in the Council of Chalce-
don, in 451, and in that of Constantinople, in 680,
and asserted the existence of two natures and two
wills in the sphere of personality. From this con-
troversy Dorner dates a retrogressive movement in
Christology, and a distinct weakening of the ideas ex-
pressed in the doctrine of the double nature and the
double will. There was a tendency backward towards
the reassertion of the impersonality of the human
nature, and a revival of the view of Cyril and the
Eutychians regarding the incarnation as a miracle
by which the divine was substituted for the human
substance, leaving to the latter only its accidents.
This theory did not appear permanently, however,
in connection with any direct change in the doctrine
of the nature and person of the historical Christ ;
but it did exercise an influence and find a place in
the doctrine of the Eucharist, and helped to develop
that tendency, already apparent, by which, in ac-
cordance with the principle of the substitution of
the symbol for the thing symbolized, the elements
of bread and wine in the holy communion were com-
ing to take the place of the spiritual presence of
Christ. Thus was being laid the foundation for
that later doctrine, that in the miracle of the altar
the divine body and blood of Christ were substituted
for or took the place of the substance of bread and
wine whose accidents alone remain. Indeed, the
doctrine was set forth distinctly by Paschasius Rad-

266 The Age of Charlcinagne.

bcrtus, a monk of Corbie, in the middle of the ninth
century, and was at the same time just as distinctly
refuted by Rabanus Maurus and by Ratramnus, the
latter in a treatise which has become a classic on the
subject.

The Adoptianists taught that Christ is the only
begotten Son of God, solely according to his divine
nature ; according to his human nature, he is only,
by the decision of the divine will, adopted as the
Son of God, and therefore the first-begotten Son of
God. The Adoptianists agreed that the Son of
God, of the substance of the Father, was born and
assumed humanity in Christ. Nor did Felix object
to giving the man, Jesus, the nam.e " Son of God,"
on account of his union with the Son of God in the
person of Christ ; but he held that the Son of Man
was of a different nature from the Son of God — that
is, a created being of another substance than the
Deity ; hence, as the son of David, he cannot be
styled the Son of God by nature. This seemed to
be another attempt to assert the reality of the human
nature in Christ, and to maintain at the same time
the supreme and absolute unity of the Deity, on
both of which points the Mahometans severely criti-
cised the doctrine of the church. Their opponents
said this view would end logically in the duality of
persons. They insisted on the reality of the incar-
nation, and though they were strong in pointing out
errors and dangers in the doctrine of Felix, they
were not able to state their doctrine in a strong,
positive manner.

At the request of Charles the Great, Alcuin issued

Felix, Bishop of Urge/. 267

a treatise on the subject, which Charles himself is
said to have revised and modified. He insisted that
something, which is of a different substance from
another thing, may undeniably possess as its prop-
erty this other thing in such a manner that, for the
sake of this real and substantial relationship between
the two, the latter may become a predicate or mark
of the former. This principle he applied to the re-
lation of the divine and human in Christ, maintain-
ing that the human nature was made a predicate of
the Son of God. The great importance of the posi-
tion and influence of Adoptianism is not attributable
to any positive results it worked out and set forth,
but to the circumstance that the opposition raised
against it constituted a great crisis in the history of
dogma. '

From Spain these discussions spread naturally in
the adjacent Prankish provinces, for Felix, a man
of distinguished piety and Christian zeal, as well as
of superior acuteness and intellect, was bishop of
Urgel, situated in the Spanish mark. It was this
spread of the controversy into the Frankish territory
that led Charles to bring the matter before the
assembly in Regensberg in 792,' at which Felix was
summoned to appear. His doctrines were con-
demned, and he consented to recant. Charles sent
him to Rome, where he was arrested and imprisoned
and wrote a new recantation, but returning to Spain
he repented of his misrepresentations of his doc-

' Dorner, division ii., vol. i., p. 268.

2 " Ann. Lauriss." and " Ann. Einhardi," an. 792 ; M. G. SS.,
vol. i., pp. 178, 179.

268 The Age of Charlemagne.

trines, and took up his residence under the rule and
protection of the Saracens. The Spanish bishops
wrote to Charles demanding a new examination and
a reinstatement of Felix in his see. These letters
were forwarded to Hadrian, and the matter brought
before the Frankfort Council of 794/ when Felix
was again condemned and all records sent to Elipan-
tus. At this time Alcuin had returned to the court
of Charles, and he used every kindly means to in-
duce Felix to give up his new and erroneous doc-
trine, supplementing his letters with the formal
treatise on the subject, as already mentioned.

To this Felix, still unconvinced, replied in a calm,
impassioned and exceedingly able manner, but Eli-
pantus answered it with bitterness and passion.
Alcuin held up to them the teaching of the univer-
sal church, and based his strongest argument on the
authority of tradition, but Felix and Elipantus said
that Christ and not Peter was the rock on which the
church was founded, and that the church and the
true faith might consist of only a few. Alcuin now
referred the discussion to Paulinus, the patriarch of
Aquileia, Theodolf of Orleans, and Richbon, bishop
of Treves, as well as to the pope, thus not giving to
the pope the absolute power of decision. Charles
agreed to this, and sent a clerical commission con-
sisting of Benedict of Aniane, Leidrad, archbishop
of Lyons, and Nefrid, bishop of Narbonne, to inves-
tigate and refute the doctrine in the southern prov-
inces bordering on Spain. They conferred with
Felix, and promised him a fair and free discussion
' Boretius, vol. i.,pp. 73-78.

The Filioqiie Clause, 269

if he would attend the council at Aix-la-Chapelle
in 799. Here he met Alcuin in debate before tlie
king, and declared himself convinced, but it was
probably rather more by the gentle and devout
character of Alcuin than by his argument. Felix,
however, was not allowed to return to his bishopric,
but placed under the oversight of the archbishop of
Lyons, where he remained until his death, in 818.
But although he gave up the use of his peculiar
phraseology, Agobard, Leidrad's successor, found
among his papers undoubted evidence that he still
retained the principles for which he had so earnestly
contended. For a time, however, the controversy
was stilled.

A third controversy, of a much more extended
significance, was that relating to the doctrine of the
Holy Spirit. It has been noticed already that a
Spanish council, held at Toledo in 589, on the occa-
sion of the conversion from Arianism of the Visi-
gothic king, Reccared, inserted in the Nicene Creed
the words " And from the Son" {filioquc), after the
words expressing belief in the Holy Ghost, " who
proceedeth from the Father." This addition, to-
gether with the question of image worship, was dis-
cussed ill a synod, at which both Greek and Roman
delegates were present, held at Gentilly in ydj, dur-
ing the reign of Pippin, probably in order to effect
a closer, union between the Eastern and Western
churches, but apparently without arriving at any
decision on the points at issue.'

* " Ann. Einhardi." an. 767 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 145 ; Jafl"6,
vol. iv., pp. 124-134 ; Ep. 36. 37.

270 The Age of Charlemagne.

Charles accordingly took up the matter, and at
his direction Alcuin wrote a treatise in which he
favored the addition. On this account a monk of
Jerusalem made a vehement attack at the Prankish
congregation on the Mount of Olives, and declared
that all the Franks were heretics. They immedi-
ately reported the whole affair to Pope Leo in a
very striking and interesting letter,' and he for-
warded the letter with one of his ovv^n to Charles,
significantly remarking that he replied to the monks
by sending them an authentic copy of the true
creed, which of course did not contain the addi-
tion.'

Charles then issued another treatise written by
Theodulf of Orleans, and introduced the question
for discussion at the Synod of Aix-la-Chapelle in
809. The question not being settled at this time,
Bernharius, bishop of Worms, and Adalhard, abbot
of Corbie, were sent to Rome to lay the matter be-
fore the pope.^ Leo admitted the truth of the doc-
trine, but did not wish to change the form in which
the creed was chanted in the services of the church,
and recommended that the word be dropped as not
necessary for them and very obnoxious to the
Greeks. In order to give additional force to his
suggestions, he caused the Nicene Creed in both
Greek and Latin to be engraved on two silver tab-
lets, and set up in the churches of St. Peter and
St. Paul in Rome, with the words, " I, Leo, have

' Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 382-385 ; Ep. Carol., 22.

' Ibid., pp. 386 ; Ep. Carol., 23.

^ " Ann. Einhardi," ann. 809 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 196,

Veni Creator Spiritiis, 271

set this up in token of my love and protection of
the orthodox faith." Yet the addition favored by
Charles was used throughout the western part of the
empire, and at last was adopted throughout the
Latin Church as it is to-day.

It is in recognition of this great truth that the
hymn Vcni Creator Spiritiis, one of the grandest of
the old Latin hymns of the Middle Ages, was com-
posed, and holds such an honored place in the ser-
vices of the church. The Church of England and
the Episcopal Church in this country have retained
it in the service for the ordination of priests and in
that for the consecration of bishops. The last
stanza is most significant :

" Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And Thee of both to be but One."

or more literally translated :

'* By Thee, may we the Father know,
By Thee, confess the Son,
In Thee, the Holy Ghost from both
Believe, all time to come."

A popular tradition, founded, however, on critical
investigation, for a long time ascribed the compo-
sition of this beautiful hymn to Charles himself,
and this view is still defended by many, but later
discoveries have led to the conclusion that it was
really composed by Rabaii^us Maurus, who, as we
have seerf, was commissioned by Charles to write a
treatise on the subject. This hymn is found in a
very old and authoritative manuscript of his works.

272 The Age of Charlemagne.

and is a complete poetic outline of his treatise,
while a peculiar expression alluding to the Holy
Spirit as ** the finger of God's right hand" is found
in both/

^ Duffield, pp. 1 16-122.

CHAPTER XXIV.

POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF ECCLESIASTICAL OFIT-
CERS — THE METROPOLITANATE— ECCLESIASTI-
CAL REGULATIONS AND REFORM — CIIRODE-
GANG AND THE CANONICAL LIFE — BENEDICT
OF ANIANE AND MONASTICISM — THE SUPREM-
ACY OF THE ROMAN CHURCH — THE MODEL.

HIS close relationship of church and state
made the ecclesiastical officers of great
poHtical importance, as we have already
seen in connection with the conquest of
Saxony, as well as in the institution of
the royal commissioners. When Charles succeeded
his father a beginning had been made of the regular
system. The work of Boniface had already laid a
strong foundation,' but the newly created bishoprics
and ecclesiastical centres necessitated a still further
arrangement and order. This was effected largely
through the metropolitan system. In one of the
first laws it was laid down that suffragan bishops
should be subject to the metropolitan according to
the canons, and that they should change and im-
prove what might need improving. It was further

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 25 ; " Karlmanni Capit.," c. 4, 742 a.d.
273

2/4 The Age of Char lev lagne.

decreed that where a vacancy occurred, or where no
bishop had been consecrated, a bishop should be
estabhshed without delay, and while true monks,
called regulars, should live according to their rule,
the bishop must live according to the canons, hav-
ing power over the priests, deacons, and others of
the clerical order belonging to his diocese/ Thus
the characteristic features of the ecclesiastical hier-
archy were laid down, not that anything new was
introduced, but only what the church for a long time
needed, and what had already been carried into exe-
cution in the South and East, although in the Prank-
ish Kingdom this organization received additional
strength through the power and authority of the
king. The detailed order, as presented in the gen-
eral admonition of the year 789, on the basis of the
Dionysian collection of canons, covered all the vari-
ous relations of the church and completed this new
arrangement for the Franks. "''

In the German part of the kingdom Mainz became
the chief centre, and Lull, the successor of Boniface,
received the pall in 780, while his successor exer-
cised a general supervision over the greater number
of the German bishops. Indeed, in the middle of
the ninth century Mainz is called the metropolitan-
ate of Germany.^ In Cologne, Hildibald, the chap-
lain of Charles, held archiepiscopal dignity, Utrecht
and Liittich being under him, and later a large part
of the Saxon Church, while Paderborn, Verden, and

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 47 ; " Capit. Harist.," c. 1-4, 779 a.d.

' See above, pp. 227-231.

2 "Ann. Fuld," an. 852 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 367.

Metropolitans, 275

the Eastphalian churches were under Mainz. Ham-
burg was not established until later, and then exer-
cised supervison over the Scandinavian churches.
In Bavaria, Salzburg exercised metropolitan powers.
The re-establishment of ecclesiastical councils, sup-
ported by the authority of the king, tended to
greater unity and to a stronger organization. The
leading enactment on this subject is found in the
capitulary of Frankfort, of 794 : " It is enacted by
our lord the king and the holy synod that bishops
shall exercise jurisdiction in their dioceses. If any
abbot, presbyter, deacon, archdeacon, monk, or
other cleric, or indeed any one else in the diocese
does not obey his bishop, let them come to their
metropolitan, and he shall judge the case together
with his suffragans. Our counts shall also come to
the court of the bishops, and if there be anything
which the metropolitan cannot set right, then let
the accusers and the accused both come to us with
letters from the metropolitan, that we may know
the truth of the matter." ^ It was also ordered that
the parish clergy should report once or twice a year
to the bishops, and the bishops to the metropolitan,
and among the duties of the royal commissioners
was the investigation of the administration of the
bishops, their aids and assistants in the several
parishes, and their ability in zeal and in learning.^

Thus the metropolitans represented the unity of
the national church and formed a strong support for
political unity, while the coalition of the two, the

^ Boretius, vol. i., pp. 74, 75 ; "Synod. Franc," ^ 6.
' Ibid., p. 45 ; " Capit. Prim.," § 8, p. 53.

2/6 The Age of Charleinagne,

temporal prince and the ecclesiastical metropolitan,
enabled each to support the other. Among the
Western Franks, Rheims attained the greatest power
and the widest influence, especially under Hincmar,
who stood forth as the defender of the church
against the insubordination of bishops and the en-
croachments of the pope. In Germany, though
there were several positions of archiepiscopal im-
portance, Mainz represented the unity of the Ger-
man Church and claimed the primacy, holding a
most important position in strengthening the civil
power and keeping up the unity and independence
through the great influence of the archbishop on
the administration of the empire.

In the old Austrasia, the lands of the Moselle, it
was only gradually that a formal and definite system
was introduced. For a long time the bishop of
Metz held the title of archbishop, although Treves
early appeared as the chief city of the territory, and
took a prominent place in ecclesiastical affairs. Its
position was finally recognized, and the bishop of
Treves became the metropolitan for Metz, Toul,
and Verdun.

The reception of the pallium or pall from the
pope as the special mark of the archiepiscopal dig-
nity early appears, but with the consent, indeed by
the will, of the Frankish king, and there are in-
stances in which it was awarded to others than the
metropolitan.'

The original metropolitan system was an institu-
tion especially connected with the Roman imperial

' Hinschius, K. R., vol. ii., p. 7. See Waitz, vol. iii., p. 420.

Bishops. 277

organization where tlie civil metropolis was also the
ecclesiastical centre, but the barbarian invasions de-
stroyed all these relations, and many of the ancient
cities of great importance were either ruined or lost
their old pre-eminence. Attempts were made by
Karlmann and Pippin in 742' and in 755,' and by
Charles in 789' and 794* to re-establish metropolitan
centres, and to restore to metropolitans their ancient
privileges, but, as we have seen before, these at-
tempts based the supremacy of certain sees on more
or less artificial grounds and were not destined to
be permanently successful — in fact, the disorganiza-
tion of the metropolitan system dates from the close
of the ninth century.

The nomination of a bishop was practically in the
hands of Charles and his successors. In some few
instances the right of free election was recognized,
but even here the king still retained much of his in-
fluence, and in important cases, as, for example, in
the election of the archbishop of Ravenna, he sent
a deputy to take care of his interests.' Louis the
Pious promised free elections," but continued to ex-
ercise a very strong influence, and the right of con-
firmation was more strongly maintained than ever.
Furthermore, a bishop could be deposed by the co-
operation at least of the civil power,' although a
church council was legally required to pass judg-

* Boretius, vol. i., p. 25 ; " Cap. Karlm.," c. i.
' Ibid., p. 33 ; " Con. Vern.," c. 2.

3 Ibid., p. 54 ; " Admon. Gen.," c. 8.

* Ibid., pp. 74, 75 ; "Syn. Franc," c. 6.
5 Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 266 ; Ep. 88. a.d. 788.

* Boretius, vol. i., p. 276 ; " Cap. Eccles.." c. 2, a.d. 818.
' Ibid., p. 95 ; " Cap. Miss,," c. 19, a.d. 802.

278 The Age of Cha7deniagiie.

ment. One was removed by Charles without assign-
ing any definite cause/ and one who was formally
condemned by a synod to lose his office Charles
restored.^

The general influence of bishops in cities and dis-
tricts was not as significant as in early times, though
their power continually grew by increase of prop-
erty and by the acquisition of important rights.
Nor was it diminished by their participation in state
affairs, or by the way in which secular concerns
came to be considered in reference to their appoint-
ments. In other respects, however, their power
was diminishing. A large number of religious com-
munities, especially the most important ones, ob-
tained special privileges from the pope, and even
from the bishops themselves, by which they were
gradually withdrawn from episcopal supervision.
Different classes of secular priests also were released
for one reason or another from the control of the
bishops, some by right of patronage, others as royal
or domestic chaplains, others as rural deans or arch-
presbyters, and others as canons of a cathedral
chapter. A large part of the ecclesiastical property,
however, still remained in the possession of the
nobles, who in the earlier periods of strife and con-
fusion had been able to seize it, or had received it
by way of a loan which was more in the interest of
the king than of the church. In some cases also
they almost acquired a right of disposal over the
bishopric itself. Charles laid special weight on the

' " Mon. Sangall.," bk. i., c. 6 ; Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 637.
' Boretius, vol. i., p. 75 ; " Syn. Franc," c. 9, a.d. 794.

CJiorepiscopi. 2 79

political activity of the bishops in the administration
of the kingdom, and in some cases they held almost
an oversight over the carrying out of important
political regulations ; ' but the increase of their po-
litical and civil power led to the necessity of making
a sharper distinction in position and functions be-
tween them and the counts with whom strifes arose
through envy/ Louis went so far as to order the
bishop to make a report regarding the count, and
the count regarding the bishop, in order that he
might find out how each fulfilled his ofifice.^ The
church, however, opposed this too intimate union
of spiritual and secular business. The clergy, there-
fore, had to guard as much as possible against the
encroachments of the secular power and secure its
aid as much as possible, but the secular nobles used
their power more for the injury than for the support
and furtherance of monasteries and churches.

From very early times subordinate bishops had
been appointed in the East, and the custom had
been introduced into the Prankish kingdom. These
bishops were partly those going about without any
fixed diocese, partly such as were assistants to indi-
vidual bishops and took the name of the earlier
bishops appointed for remote country districts with
whom they seemed to have had nothing in common
except the name. These were called chorepiscopi
(country bishops). But the church had already
made earnest efforts to do away with the institution,

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 70 ; " Cap. de part. Sax.," c. 34, a.d. 7S2.
"^ Ibid., p. 161 ; '• Cap. tract.," c. i, 2, 5 and 6, a.d. 811.
' Ibid., p. 305 ; " Admon. ad omnes," c. 14, a.d. 823.

28o TJic Age of Charlemagne.

and with the attempt to estabHsh better order in
the Prankish church under the influence of Boni-
face, orders were given to Hmit them in their activ-
ity.' Under Charles the old church laws against
them were repeated,' and although some were kept
as substitutes for the bishops," they engaged in
political much more than in ecclesiastical affairs, but
they continued to exercise their influence down to
the middle of the century, although strong objec-
tions were raised against them, first in the West
Frankish kingdom, and they finally disappeared/

Ecclesiastical reform not only appears as one of
the most important subjects of legislation in the
capitularies of Charles, but was sought also through
two direct agencies. The first was the " canonical
life," introduced by Chrodegang, bishop of Metz,
742-766, among his cathedral clergy, which was con-
firmed, taken up and extended by Charles.^ This
rule or canon was the application of the monastic
rule of St. Benedict to the clergy associated with
the bishop in his cathedral, with the omission of the
vow of poverty." Chrodegang built a large and
commodious dwelling, in which all the clergy of his
cathedral church were obliged to live, pray, work,
eat, and sleep under his constant supervision. A
fixed rule assigned to each his portion of food and

* Boretius, vol. i., pp. 25, 29, 35 and 41 ; "Cap. Karlm.," c. 4,
A.D. 742; "Cap. Suess.," c. 5, a.d. 744; "Con, Vern,," c. 13,
A.u. 755 ; " Decret. Verm.," c. 14, a.d. 758.

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 45 ; "Cap. Karoli. M.," c. 4, a.d. 769.

• Ibid., pp. 54, 55 : " Admon. Gen.," c. 9, 19, a.d. 789.

* Waitz, vol. iii., p. 431.

" Boretius, vol. i., p. 60 ; " Admon. Gen.," c. 73, A.D. 789.

• Hatch, pp. 157-172.

The Canonical Life. 281

drink, and at appointed hours (the canonical hours)
they came together for prayer and singing, and at
regular times they gathered in the hall where the
bishop, or some one appointed by him, read a chap-
ter from the Bible, with explanations, exhortations,
and reproofs. The hall was therefore called the
chapter house, and the name " chapter" was given
to the whole body together there. The colleges
were a subsequent development of a chapter in non-
episcopal city churches. Under Louis the Pious
this rule was formally adopted and enforced for the
whole kingdom,* but soon after the canons, as the
members of a cathedral chapter were called, endeav-
ored to emancipate themselves from the control of
the bishops, and were able in many cases to main-
tain a more or less independent position."

The other reform was the revival of the monastic
rule of Benedict, brought about through the efforts
of Benedict of Aniane, the son of a Visigothic
count, and who had served as a soldier under Charles
the Great. In 779 he founded in Languedoc the
monastery of Aniane, and became a very powerful
and intimate counsellor of Louis the Pious. The
main principles of his rule were set forth under his
direction in a capitulary issued by Louis in 816.'

Charles showed a deep and strong interest, often
expressing itself in definite and determined action,
not only in the larger and external interests of the
church, but in the minutest details of its internal

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 276; "Cap. Eccles.," c. 3; "Ann. Lau-
riss. Min.," an. 816 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 122.
2 Chastel, vol. iii., pp. 172, I73-
' "Ann. Lauriss. Min.," an. 816 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 122.

282 TJie Age of Charleinagne,

life and discipline. He regarded the Church of
Rome with the highest veneration, not only on ac-
count of his personal relations with the pope, and
the fact that the Church of Rome was the only apos-
tolic see in the West, but also on account of the
strength and completeness of its order and tradition.
The supremacy of the Roman See was formally
asserted, and apparently accepted in a letter written
by Hadrian to Charles in the latter part of the cen-
tury. The following striking passages appear : " Be
it far from us to doubt your royal power which has
striven not for the diminishing, but for the exalta-
tion of your spiritual mother, the holy Roman
Church, and which extended among all nations will
remain consecrated and exalted until the end."
** For we do not raise the question as to any one
being ignorant of how great authority has been
granted to the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles
and to his most holy see, inasmuch as this church
has the divine right of judging in all things, nor is
it permitted to any to pass judgment on its judg-
ment, for the right of absolving those bound by the
decisions of any belongs to the pontiffs of the see
of the blessed Apostle Peter, through whom the
care of the whole church devolves upon the one see
of Peter, and nothing ever can be separated from
its head. For as your divinely preordained and
supreme excellency has shown such love for the
head of the whole world, the holy Roman Church
and its ruler and chief, so the blessed Peter, prince
of the apostles, has granted you, together with your
most excellent queen, our daughter, and your most

■ Rome the Model 283

noble children, to enjoy the rule of a long reign and
in the future the unbroken serenity of victory." *
Already in 764 Paul I. had declared the Roman
Church to be " the holy spiritual mother, the head
of all the churches of God." ' Charles accordingly
recognized the Church of Rome as his model for
the internal arrangements connected with the rules
of discipline and of worship. He received from
Hadrian in 774 a copy of the Dionysian canons in
force at Rome/ also a copy of the Sacramentary of
Gregory,^ and two singers to introduce the Roman
method of chanting into the Frankish Church.^ The
laws of marriage throughout the realm were also
made to conform with those in force at Rome, and
the benediction of a priest was made necessary to
its legality.

The position of the church and the rights and
privileges of the clergy were maintained, and later
steadily increased by royal authority. Payment of
tithes to the church was enforced even in newly
acquired territory,^ a parish received an endowment
of house and land free of rent and taxes, and pro-
vided with servants in proportion to the population.''
The church continued to increase its landed pos-
sessions, and large estates passed under the control
of bishops and abbots, who now became an integral

1 Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 2S5-292 ; Ep. gS, 784-791 a.d.
' Ibid., p. 132 ; Ep, 37, 764 A.D.
^ Abel-Simson, vol. i., pp. 179, 180.
* Jaff6, vol. iv., p. 273 ; Ep. 92, 784-791 A.D.
^ "Ann. Lauriss.,"an. 787 ; M. G. SS., vol.!., p. 170 ; Boretius,
vol. i., p. 61 ; " Admon. Gen.," c. 80, a.d. 789.

8 Boretius, vol. i., p. 69 ; " Capit. de part. Sax.," c. 17.
' Ibid., p. 69, " Capit. de part. Sax.," c. 15.

284 ^'/^^' ^£^ of C/iariemagiie.

part of the feudal system, and to whom many im.-
munities and even regalia were granted.'

To such an extent had these temporal possessions
and feudal holdings increased that all prelates were
obliged to keep advocates to transact the secular
affairs incompatible with their spiritual calling/
They often served in the wars in spite of the general
laws against bearing arms, and it was necessary to
issue very severe laws expressly prohibiting the
clergy from serving in war or being present on the
field of battle, except in the numbers required for
religious services.' Though the clergy were ex-
empted more and more from the jurisdiction of the
secular courts, Charles continued to be the supreme
judge of all clergymen, even bishops."

All the kings after Pippin more than once at-
tempted in their laws to preserve to the church its
immunities, and if later the church had to complain
of any violation, it was due not so much to the
kings as to the officers and secular princes who paid
little regard to the liberties and privileges granted
to the church, and often claimed, if not the church
property itself, at least the use of it. Sometimes,
however, these immunities were granted by princes
and dukes themselves and defended by them. It is
almost impossible to determine the historical origin
of many of the immunities granted to monasteries

' Boretius, vol, i., p. 165 ; "Cap. de rebus exerc.,'' c. 3.

' Ibid., p. 172 ; " Cap. Aquisgr.," c. 14.

3 Ibid., pp. 103, 107, 243; "Cap. Miss, Sp.," c. 37; "Cap. a
Sac," c. 18 ; " Ghaerb. Cap.," c. 3.

* Boretius, vol. i., p. 56 ; " Admon, Gen.," c. 38, p. 77 ; " Synod
Francon," c. 30, 39, p. 103 ; " Cap. Miss.," c. 17, p. 176 ; " Cap.
de just.," c. 2, p. 196 ; " Cap. Mant.," c. i, p. 190.

Ecclesiastical Immunities, 285

and bishoprics on account of the number of forged
or falsified documents. Under Pippin and Charles
and their immediate successors the usual provisions
of the grant were about the same as in the later
Merovingian times — viz., that no public officer
should enter upon the estate or property of an eccle-
siastical foundation either to make a judicial inquiry,
or to levy any tax, or to quarter or provide for
soldiers, or to take bail, or to hold the people re-
sponsible to justice in any way.

Sometimes, however, the privileges are declared
with reference only to unjust exactions, as if all
levies were not excluded, and some instances occur
in which the king's officers were obliged to act. In
single instances exception is made where the king's
officers have the right to levy a tax in case of special
need ; usually, however, in such cases the church is
allowed to collect the tax by its own officers.' The
bishops also investigated crimes and administered
justice in their own dioceses assisted by the counts,'
but here also, as in political affairs, a gradual separa-
tion began to take place between the clergy and
laity in the courts and in the general administration
of justice. The ecclesiastical courts as they existed
earlier stood for purely ecclesiastical cases, but had
gradually extended their activity, thus limiting the
secular courts. Even the clergy themselves became
more and more subject to these courts, and the de-
crees which earlier church councils had made in

^ Waitz. vol. iv., pp. 297-302.

* Boretius, vol. i., p. 170; " Capit. Aquis.," c. i, ad. 813;
p. 190, "Cap. Mant.," c. 6, .A..D. 781 ; cf. p. 25, "Cap. Karlm.."
c. 5, A.D. 742.

2 86 The Age of Charlemagne.

their favor now received civil recognition and en-
forcement. Monks especially were forbidden to go
to secular courts or to hold trials outside of their
monastery' or to engage in secular affairs/ Even
civil actions between the clergy must be settled be-
fore the bishop/ and cases between a cleric and a
layman before a bishop and a count/

This extension of episcopal jurisdiction over eccle-
siastics deprived the secular officers of much of their
power over the church and all that belonged to it,
and transferred the judicial authority to the heads
of the ecclesiastical establishments, and consequently
in this important sphere of the administration of
justice the power of the church was greatly increased
and the way prepared for still further extensions of
its power.

Under Louis the continuance of civil disturbances
and the higher authority, often oppressive and over-
bearing, exercised by the metropolitans, led the
bishops to make a stronger assertion of the suprem-
acy of the church in order to free it from the tem-
poral control, which had m.inistered to their support
under Charles, but now left them weakened and
defenceless. Already there was evident a strong
determination to acknowledge the Roman See as
the centre and head of the church, and its natural
support and defence against the encroachments and
aggravating interference of the civil power, which

* Roretius, vol. i., p. 60 ; " Admon. Gen.," c. 73, a.d. 789 ; p.
75, "Syn. Franc," c. ii, A.n. 797.

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 64 ; " Dupl. leg.," c. 30, A.d. 789.
3 IbiiL, p. 56 ; " Adm. Gen.," c. 28, A.d, 789.
'' Ibid., p. 77 ; " Syn. Franc," c. 30, a.d. 794.

Increase of Papal Power. 287

seemed no longer able to accomplish the much-
needed reforms. The Sardican canons' were recalled,
and the bishop was allowed the right of appeal in
any and all cases, directly over the metropolitan and
the provincial synods, to the bishop of Rome.
Benedict of Levite, in his enlarged edition of the
capitularies, inserted the Sardican decrees, and made
the still wider application, which reached its fullest
expression in the Forged Decretals of Pseudo-Isidore.
This tendency was still further strengthened by the
action of the civil government in calling the papal
authority to its aid, even ascribing to it additional
powers for the settlement of ecclesiastical disputes
and even of political difficulties.

Thus the papal power was greatly increased on
every side, and these advantages the pope was in
the most favorable position to grasp. We may
therefore see in the early part of the ninth century
the gradual establishment of that new ecclesiastical
polity to which the Forged Decretals succeeded in
imparting the one thing needful — an historical basis
manufactured for the purpose.

* Hefele. vol. ii., pp. 112-129, canons 3-6, allowing a bishop to
appeal to Pope Julius in case of condemnation by the other bish-
ops in his province who might be suspected of Arian or Eusebian
leanings.

CHAPTER XXV.

CLOSING YEARS — ATTEMPTS AT CONSOLIDATION —
FOREIGN RELATIONS — LATER WARS — DISTRI-
BUTION OF KINGDOMS — DEATH OF THE OLDER
SONS, PIPPIN AND CHARLES — LAST WILL —
ELECTION AND CORONATION OF LOUIS AS
CO-EMPEROR — DEATH OF CHARLES THE
GREAT — CANONIZATION — SPECIAL COLLECT
FOR HIS DAY, JANUARY 28 — THE GREAT WORK
WHICH HE ACCOMPLISHED.

URING the closing years of his life
Charles was largely occupied in the con-
solidation of the empire and the admin-
istration of its affairs. After his corona-
tion he made a general revision of the
different customs and codes of law of the several
people united under his rule.^ The personality of
law still prevailed according to which each person,
wherever he might be, must be judged and dealt
with according to the law of his own people. The
Franks, Salian and Ripuarian, each had their own
law, also the Saxons, Frisians, Goths, Burgundians,
Alcmannians, Bavarians, Lombards, and the Ro-

' "Ann. Lauresh," an. 802 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 39.

288

Obstacles to Unity. 289

mans. The confusion and difficulties engendered
when all these were joined together in one great
empire can be imagined better than described.
" So great a diversity of laws prevailed that it was
in not only single districts and cities, but even in
many houses, for it sometimes happened that five
men might be walking or sitting together, and not
one of them have a law common to one of the
others." * The difficulties confronting a ruler under
such conditions were enormous. Under Louis the
Pious there was a thought of uniting all under one
law. Of course not as easy politically as ecclesiasti-
cally, but since all were united in one faith under
the one law of Christ, members of one church, they
might also be included under one and the same secu-
lar law, but the thought found no further realization.
Charles, indeed, tried to establish order and to unify
the principles of his administration, and the im-
mense number of his capitularies attest his zeal and
earnestness, but his attempt could not succeed.
" In spite of the unity and activity of his thought
and power, disorder was all about him, immense,
invincible. He repressed it a moment at one point,
but the evil ruled wherever his terrible will did not
reach, and then in the very place through which he
had passed it began again as soon as he had de-
parted." "

His foreign relations have a more romantic inter-
est. Since he considered himself the champion of
the Christians who were under foreign rule, he was

^ Agobard, " Adv. leg. Gund.," c. 4.
* Guizot, lecture xx.

290 The Age of Charlemagne.

brought into closest relations with the great Ma-
hometan power, and without coming into hostile
relations with the rulers, especially the caliphs of
the East, or even without showing any difference in
diplomatic intercourse between them and other for-
eign princes. He established, however, his place as
head and representative of Christianity, and knew
how to make it recognized in peaceable ways. It
was probably on this account that in his foreign rela-
tions the bishop of Rome, the spiritual head of the
West, came into intimate relations with him. The
pope lent his aid in the overthrow of Tassilo, and
also in the contest with the duke of Benevento. He
also aided Charles in restoring Eardulf, the North-
umbrian king.' He confirmed the treaty made with
the Greek emperor in 812,^ and even in domestic
affairs he subscribed the important document con-
cerning the division of the kingdom among the sons
of Charles in 806, and the conditions under which
this should take place," and when later under Louis
the Pious it came to an open breach and contest
between the emperor and his sons regarding the
regulation of the succession and other questions
therewith connected, the pope was brought over the
Alps in order to give preponderance and victory to
the party of the sons. In all that belonged to the
kingdom he took a high place, and much depended
upon his co-operation in other than purely ecclesi-
astical concerns. However, he never actained any

' " Ann. Einhardi," an. 808 ; M. G: SS., vol. i., p. 195.
=» Ihid., an. 812 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 199.
» Ibid,, an. 806 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 193.

Haroiin A I Rase hid. 291

definite right in giving regular counsel or even in
the final determination in religious affairs." Among
the most interesting of the foreign relations were
those with Haroun Al Raschid, the caliph of Bag-
dad, better known to us as the hero of the " Ara-
bian Nights." These two great monarchs, the
caliph of the great Mahometan power of the East
and the emperor of the great Christian nations of
the West, were on the most intimate terms of friend-
ship, and frequent messengers and ambassadors
passed between them. Einhard tells us " that this
prince preferred the favor of Charles to that of all
the kings and potentates of the earth, and consid-
ered that to him alone marks of honor and munifi-
cence were due. Accordingly when the ambassa-
dors sent by Charles to visit the most holy sepulchre
and place of resurrection of our Lord and Saviour
presented themselves before him with gifts, and
made known their master's wishes, he not only
granted what was asked, but gave possession of that
holy and blessed spot. When they returned he dis-
patched his ambassadors with them and sent mag-
nificent gifts, besides stuffs, perfumes, and other rich
products of the Eastern land. A few years before
this Charles had asked for an elephant, and the
caliph sent the only one that he had. " ' The chroni-
clers make a special record of the coming of this
elephant, and even gave his name, Abul-Abbas,

' As, for example, in connection with the Image controversy,
the Frankfort Synod, the Caroline Books, and the Filioque
clause.

2 Einhard, "Vita," c. i6.

292 The Age of Charlemagne.

meaning " Father of Destruction." ^ He died in
810.^

Charles liked foreigners, and was at great pains to
take them under his protection, and there were at
all times large numbers of them in his kingdom and
about his court. His relations with the English
Bretwalda Offa of Mercia were very friendly, and he
guaranteed protection to the English pilgrims and
merchants passing through the realm. ^ At one time
negotiations were carried on by his son Charles for
the hand of Offa's daughter, but these were finally
broken off.*

About a year before his coronation he had sent
one of the court clerg}^ as bearer of his bounty to
the holy places of the East. His messenger re-
turned to Rome at about the time of the coronation
accompanied by two Eastern monks, sent by the
patriarch of Jerusalem. As evidence of his high
regard for the king he sent by them his benediction
and the keys of the holy sepulchre of Mount Cal-
vary, of the city of Jerusalem and of Mount Zion,
together with a standard^ conferring upon him an
honorary supremacy over the holy city and placing
it under his protection.^

Most of the wars of this later period were carried

' "Ann. Einhardi," an. 802; M. G. SS., vol. i,, p. 190;
"Ann. Lauresh.," an. 802; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 39; " Chron.
Moiss ," an. 802. M. G. SS , vol. i., p. 307.

^ Ibid., an. 810, p. 197.

^ Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 357, 358 ; Ep. Carol. 11, a.D. 796 ; " Letter
to Offa, King of the Mercians." Translated by Mombert, pp.
335. 33^.

** Abel-Simson, vol. ii., pp. 7, 8, 475,
^ "Ann. Lauriss.," an. 800, M. G. SS., p. 188.

* Waltz, vol. iii., p. 186.

Later Wars. 293

on under or in the name of the emperor's sons.
Pippin at the age of four had been crowned king of
Italy, and at the same time his brother Louis, one
year younger, was crowned king of Aquitania,
though both reigned under a guardian, baiuliis, but
Charles continued to be the real ruler, receiving re-
ports and giving instructions even in regard to the
minutest details, and sending his commissioners
from time to time, just as in the rest of the empire.
At the age of nine Pippin accompanied his father in
the campaign against Benevento, and in the follow-
ing year, 787, is said to have led one of the armies
against Tassilo, the refractory duke of the Bavarians.
In 791 he headed the Italian forces in the campaign
against the Avars, on which occasion Louis, who
had reached his thirteenth year, was publicly ac-
knowledged as a warrior and formally invested with
a sword. Soon after Pippin sent back word of a
great victory over the Avars, and continued the
warfare against them, while Louis was with his
father in the North subduing the Saxons, though
both joined Pippin in the latter part of the war.
After the conquest of the Avars, Charles, the oldest
son, whose mother was Himiltrud, entered upon a
campaign against the Bohemians, who threatened
the frontier along the boundary of the newly con-
quered Avars. He then, in 806, proceeded against
the Sarabians far in the North, between the Saale
and Elbe, and by the death of their leader forced
them to submit.' In the meanwhile the Arabs took
advantage of these exploits in the North and East

1 " Ann. Einhardi," an. 806 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 193.

294 ^^^^ -^S^ ^f Charlemagne.

and invaded Septimania. Several contests with
them followed, and Louis was engaged from time
to time in warding off their piratical attacks, though
they killed many Christians and secured much
booty/

There is a tradition, we are told, that the Emir
determined to devote the spoils taken in war against
the Christians to the erection of a splendid mosque
at Cordova. Not content with the glory of building
it with Christian money, he determined that it
should stand on Christian soil, and for that purpose
caused sacks filled with earth from the battlefield
of Villedaigne to be carried on the shoulders of his
Christian prisoners of war to Cordova, and the
foundations of the Mahometan temple were laid in
that earth. " If the statement is true," says Mom-
bert, " the fate of that mosque points the lesson of
the instability of the things below, for the mosque
is now the Cathedral of Cordova." '

The domestic affairs of the kingdoms of these
young kings were not always administered with
ability and integrity, and Charles found himself
obliged to interfere on account of the corrupt ad-
ministration of the kingdom of Louis, whose officers
had diverted the crown property and land to their
own uses, and had reduced the young and inexperi-
enced king to a state of poverty. Charles immedi-
ately appointed special commissioners to recover
the royal domains and apply the revenue to the use
of the crown, introducing also certain reforms which

' "Ann. Moiss.," an. 793 ; M. G. SS., p. 300.
' Mombert, pp. 291, 292.

Distribution of So6. 295

might strengthen the position of Louis, but great
caution was followed in order not to alienate the
nobles from their king. Louis usually spent the
summer months with his father, but the city of
Toulouse, where his general assemblies were held,
was nominally his permanent residence.

In 806 Charles made a formal distribution of the
kingdoms of the empire, the object being to
strengthen the power by distributing the control,
allowing a harmonious and uniform development of
the several parts, and avoiding the distractions which
might follow civil strife if either of the sons were
left without territory. The brothers were to unite
in the maintenance of each other's police regula-
tions, in the common defence against enemies at
home or abroad, and in the care and protection of
the Roman Church. Without going into details, we
may note that to Louis was assigned Aquitania,
Vasconia, the southern part of Burgundy, Provence,
Septimania, and Gothia ; to Pippin, Lombardy,
Bavaria, and the territory on the southern bank of
the Danube from its source to the Rhine. To
Charles was given all the rest— Austrasia, Neustria,
Thuringia, Saxony, Frisia, part of Burgundy, part
of Alemannia, and part of Bavaria. It is to be
noted that only three sons are mentioned whose
right of inheritance is acknowledged, and most sur-
prising of all, that no mention is made of the City
of Rome or of the imperial title and authority. In
other respects, however, the document is not of
much importance, for its provisions were never car-
ried out. After the division Pippin and Louis re-

296 The Age of Charlemag7ie.

turned to their dominions ; Louis to continue the
struggle against the Saracens in the South, and Pip-
pin the defence of his possessions against the Moors,
who were attacking Corsica and Sardinia. The rela-
tions of Pippin and Leo were not very friendly,^
perhaps on account of their too great nearness, but
the danger to the papacy, whatever it might have
been, was averted by the death of Pippin in 810.
Pippin left one son, Bernhard, who was sent by
Charles to be educated by Rabanus Maurus, in the
monastery of Fulda, and in 812 he was sent into
Italy as king in his father's place/ In the year of
Pippin's death occurred a great invasion by the
Northmen, the Danes, but they were driven back,
Charles himself taking the field against them with a
large army, and it was not until the middle of the
century, after the death of Charles and of his son
Louis, that they finally entered within the bounda-
ries of the empire, and not until the beginning of
the next century did they effect a settlement and
found the Duchy of Normandy, although Eng-
land during all this time suffered from their inva-
sions.

Charles, the oldest son mentioned in the division
of 806, died in 811. He had been most intimately
associated with his father in all his affairs, and to
him had been given the Duchy of Maine in 789,
probably with the title of king." It was the same
territory which once King Pippin had given to his

' Jaff6, vol. iv., p. 310 ; Leonis, iii., Ep. i, A.D. 808.
'^ " Einhardi Ann.," an. 812, 813, 814; M. G. SS., vol. i., pp.
199, 200, 201.
3 "Ann. Mett.," an. 789 ; M. G. SS., vol. i , p. 176.

Old Age. 297

brother Grifo/ and which later, 838, Louis the Pious
gave to his son Charles the Bald." Charles was also
the son who was crowned and anointed with his
father by Pope Leo IIL at the imperial coronation
in 800. It is probable that this signified his father's
intention to bestow upon him the imperial crown,
but there seems to be no further evidence of this,
and, as we have seen, in the proposed division of the
kingdom, Italy was given to Pippin without any
mention of the imperial dignity.

Meanwhile the emperor had grown old, though
still vigorous and active intellectually and physi-
cally. The capitularies of his later days, both in
number and in character, show no decline in admin-
istrative ability, and his campaigns against the
Danes, although not requiring any fighting, gave
evidence of his martial spirit, while hunting in the
forest of Ardennes was still his favorite occupation.
At last he felt the end was near. He had divided
his kingdom in 806, and in 811 he had made his
will ;^ but now only one son, Louis, the king of
Aquitania, was left, and him he summoned to his
imperial palace at Aix-la-Chapelle. Here Louis
spent the summer of 813, receiving instructions and
advice regarding the empire and its administration.*

In September the general assembly was held, and
an important capitulary was issued. Charles com-
mended Louis to the nobles and ecclesiastics and all

* "Ann. Mett.," an. 749 ; M. G. SS., vol. i.. p. 331.

« "Prud. Tree. Ann.," an. 838 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 432.

> Einhard, "Vita Karoli.," c. 33. Translated by Mombert,

pp. 453-457. ,, ^ o^

* "Einhardi Ann., an. 873; M. G. SS., vol. 1., p. 200,

298 The Age of Charlemagne.

the people present, and charged them to be faithful
to him as emperor if they would bestow the title
upon him. They answered his appeal with a unani-
mous shout, and pronounced him worthy to be their
emperor. On Sunday, September nth, in the
church of St. Mary the Virgin, clad in his imperial
robes and wearing his magnificent crown, Charles
advanced to the altar and placed thereon the new
crown for his son ; both knelt in prayer ; after which
Charles delivered a solemn charge to the young em-
peror. He bade him, above all things, fear and
love God and keep his commandments, and govern
well the church and protect her from her enemies.
He exhorted him to show a tender regard for his
kinsmen, for the priests and for the people, and to
watch over the poor. He advised him to receive
into his confidence only faithful ministers. God-fear-
ing and opposed to corruption. He bade him to do
justice and love mercy, and in all things to be an
example to his people. Louis replied that he would
obey these precepts of his father with the help of
God. Then Charles bade him take with his own
hands the crown from the altar and place it upon
his head, and he handed to him the imperial
sceptre.'

Charles then commanded him to be proclaimed
emperor and Augustus, and the multitude exclaimed,

Long life to Emperor Louis !" Charles then de-
clared Louis joint emperor with himself, and con-
cluded with the ascription of praise: " Blessed art
thou, 0 Lord, for that thou hast granted me grace

^ Thegan, " De Gestis Ludow. Pii," c. 6.

Death of Chai^les the Great. 299

this day to see with my own eyes my son seated on
my throne." ' Shortly after this Louis returned to
Aquitania, and his fatlicr passed the autumn in
hunting, returning about November 1st. The winter
was very severe, and in the month of January
Charles had a violent attack of fever, which increased
in violence, and was accompanied by pleurisy, warn-
ing him of his speedy end. He immediately sent
for his archchaplain and intimate friend, Hildibald,
archbishop of Cologne, who administered to him
the sacrament and prepared him for death. On the
following morning, Saturday, summoning all his
strength, he stretched out his right hand, signed
himself with the sign of the cross, first on his fore-
head and then over his whole body, and at last,
joining his hands across his breast, he closed his
eyes, and with the words, " Into thy hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit," he breathed his last at nine
o'clock on the morning of January 28th, 814. He
was buried with all magnificence in the church of
Aix-la-Chapelle. Through the earnest endeavors of
the Emperor Frederick L and King Henry H. of
England, Charles was canonized by the consent and
authority of the anti-pope. Paschal, an act which
was sanctioned, however, by the rightful pope, Alex-
ander HL " The Roman Church observes his day
on January 28th, and the special collect used at
Minden and elsewhere reads as follows : ' O God,
who in the superabounding plenitude of thy good-
ness hast exalted the blessed Charles the Great,

^ Einhard, "Vita, "c. 30; " Chron. Moiss.,"an. 813 ; M.G.SS.,
vol. i., pp. 310, 311.

300 The Age of Charle^nagne.

Emperor and thy Confessor, after having laid aside
the veil of the flesh, to the glory of a blissful immor-
tality, mercifully grant that as thou didst raise him
for the praise and glory of thy Name to imperial
honor upon earth, so of thy grace we may be found
worthy ever to enjoy his pious and propitious inter-
cession in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' " ^
The great work of Charles was ended. Mot to
make great conquests, whose possession should re-
main in the care and keeping of his descendants for
long generations ; not to found an enduring empire
over which his successors might rule in unbroken
peace and serenity ; not even to establish a system
of laws which should remain the possession of
Europe, nor to found institutions which should en-
dure long after he had passed away ; but to bring the
entire German people into one great whole for a
period long enough for their development in civiliza-
tion and Christianity — to form, as it were, a great
imperial university for such a training of the German
nation in learning, in civilization, in the principles
of the Christian faith, and in the morals of the Chris-
tian religion. More than this, for weal or for woe
he had made possible the establishment of feudal-
ism, out of which were to grow the free cities and
the great monarchies of Europe ; and, above all
else, he had placed the Roman Church in a position
of independence, of strength, of security, and of in-
fluence in which she might become the guide, the
teacher, and the example of the West. Thus, after

' Mombert, pp. 487, 48S ; Boland, "Acta Sanct. ad Jan. 28,"
p. 874.

Trite Greatness of Charles. 30:

all, the greatness of Charles consists not in his
famous exploits, neither in his wars nor in his laws,
neither in his imperial organization and title, nor in
his military generalship and victories, but in the
results for civilization, for morality, and for religion
which he made possible for Europe. The mighty
agent through which he worked, the organization
which he placed in control of these great forces, and
upon which he conferred the possibility of using
them, was the Christian Church, which had its head,
its centre, and its chief bishop at Rome. In more
than one sense his work was not complete. " An
inclusion of the Anglo-Saxon and Irish territories in
the union with the empire, an extension of the king-
dom and of the Christian faith over the Northern
Germans, an expulsion of the Mahometans from
Spain and the restoration of the Christian rule in
the whole extent of the peninsula — these, leaving
out the problems which Africa and the East might
present, were objects which a successor of Charles
who wished to carry on his work could have placed
before him." ^

The constitution which he had established rested
essentially upon the kingdom as it had formed itself
among the German people in the time of the wan-
derings and conquests. The development of the
feudal relations had a very great power and signifi-
cance, but instead of giving a new support or a firmer
coherence to the great kingdom, as Charles had
hoped, it proved the greatest source of its weakness
and one of the chief causes of its overthrow. It

^ Waitz, vol. iv., p. 635.

302 The Age of Char/emagne.

endangered the unity instead of strengthening it,
and all that Charles could do, with the summoning
of all his power, was to unite it and bring it into
some sort of connection with existing arrangements.
Nothing resembles feudalism less than the sovereign
unity to which Charles aspired, yet he was the real
founder of feudalism, for by checking invasions and
by repressing internal disorder, he gave to the local
positions, interests, and influences time to take real
possession of the land and of its inhabitants.

It was in union with the church, and in the soli-
darity of its members, that Charles found a principle
and model for the unity of his realm. The unity of
faith and of divine worship in which the people
united outweighed the difference of nationality, of
laws and of interests. The state took up the ten-
dencies which the church had perfected in itself, and
lent to its development the power which it possessed,
and its comprehension served as a basis for some-
thing great.

CHAPTER XXVI.

INTELLECTUAL LIFE AND DEVELOPMENT— THE
DARK AGES — INFLUENCE OF MONASTICISM—
LEARNING IN ENGLAND — BENEDICT BISCOr —
ARCHBISHOP THEODORE— HADRIAN— BEDE—
ALCUIN — THE LIBRARY AT YORK.

E come now to one of the most important
subjects, perhaps the most important of
the whole period. It has been said that
the permanent contributions made by
Charles to the history of the world were
the conquest of the Saxons and the establishment
of schools ; and it is difficult to overestimate the
importance of either. His activity, however, in
both of these directions left much to be worked out
and carried to completion by those who came after
him, but the common opinion in regard to his intel-
lectual work needs further explanation.

In a recent most valuable work on the Universi-
ties of Europe in the Middle Ages, we are told most
emphatically that the schools of Charles the Great
were not the origin of the University of Paris.
" These schools were probably migratory, and fol-
lowed the person of the sovereign, like the ancient

303

304 The Age of Charlemagne.

courts of lav/, in his progresses through his domin-
ions."' It is only by an assumption, therefore,
that one can speak of the identity of the schools of
the palace with the later church schools of Paris.
We may believe, however, that some of the features
which characterized the Parisian university system
may be traced very rightly to the work of Charles,
especially the intensely ecclesiastical character, the
system of supervision by church authorities, and the
complete identification of the scholastic with the
clerical order. Undoubtedly, also, the general edu-
cational traditions, as well as intellectual inspiration,
inherited by the schools of Paris, were derived ulti-
mately from the schools of Alcuin and of Charles,
but the connection cannot be traced through any
single school.

The later intellectual life seems due to the gen-
eral " revival of episcopal and monastic schools
throughout the Prankish Empire." ""

Through the dark ages which intervened between
the age of Charles the Great and the twelfth cen-
tury there were at least a few monasteries, and per-
haps one or two cathedrals, where the fame of some
great teacher drew students from distant lands, and
where some ray of enthusiasm for the intellectual
life still survived. The torch of learning, which
Charles and Alcuin lighted from the fires of the
Irish and English schools, never went completely
out, but served in its turn to kindle the flames of
knowledge after the storms and tempests of the
barbarian invasions of the ninth and tenth centuries

' Rashdall, vol. i., p. 273. ' Ibid., vol. i., p. 274.

Decline of Classical Leai'iiing. 305

had been stilled. But it is not easy to make right
inferences and to form a just estimate regarding the
intellectual position of these far-distant centuries.
Gibbon/ Hallam/ and Robertson' give us indeed a
gloomy picture of their intellectual life and require-
ments which Maitland' has done much to correct,
while Lorenz, in his biography of Alcuin, affirms
that there was " a more universal education secured
to the lower classes at the conclusion of the eighth
century than France can boast of in the nineteenth.*
The ancient and classical learning of Greece and
Rome had been suffering for centuries a steady de-
cline, due, in the first instance, not to the church,
for it was not yet strong enough to accomplish so
much, but to the same causes that had brought
about the decline of the empire.^ A similar de-
terioration may be noticed in the Christian writings,
comparing those of the three centuries before
Augustine^ with those of the three centuries suc-
ceeding him, when the flood of barbarism poured
down upon the empire, spreading confusion, igno-
rance, and general demoralization everywhere. Nor
was this all, for the church had been obliged from
the first to condemn the social and political life all
about her, and to isolate herself completely from it

^ Gibbon, ch. Ixvi., ad Jin.

' Hallam, ch. ix., part i.

^ Robertson, introduction to the " History of the Emperor,
Charles V."

4 Maitland, "The Dark Ages."

* Lorenz, p. 59. This statement may be due in some measure
to German prejudice against the French.

« Hallam, ch. ix., part i ; Adams, pp. 76-SS.

' The fourth century has been called " the golden age of Chris-
tian literature." Chastel, vol. ii., p. 315.
T

J

06 The Age of Charlemag7ie,

on account of its being inseparably bound up with
and interpenetrated by the heathen and immoral
acts, sentiments, and principles which Christianity
necessarily opposed with relentless zeal and uncom-
promising vigor. It had seemed equally necessary
to ignore if not to condemn' that whole literature,
however great and beautiful, which was so per-
meated with heathenism as to form, at any rate at
first, an obstacle to the progress of Christianity — an
obstacle which could not be subdued, but could
only be thrust aside. Indeed, out of this learning
had arisen, at first direct attacks, and later, rival
schemes and systems of belief and conduct, and
though St. Paul, Clement of Alexandria, Origen,
and St. Augustine showed the possibility and even
the advantage of the knowledge of the literary
treasure of Greece and Rome, it was felt that only
giants could resist such mighty power, and the days
of giants were passing away. We need only refer
to the later testimony of Jerome as to the general
neglect of pagan learning, and the vision which he
had in his early years, accompanied by the warning
words, " You are a Ciceronian, not a Christian,
* for where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also.' " Furthermore, as has been said, a general
decline was taking place even in the classical litera-
ture and learning, that went far to justify the church's
condemnation.

At the end of the seventh century, when pagan-
ism might seem to be finally suppressed, the last

' "Apostolic Constitutions," bk. i., ch. vi.; " Anti-Nicene Fa-
thers," vol. vii., p. 393.

Monasticism. 307

advocates and great centres of the ancient learning
already had disappeared, and the capability of its
appreciation already had well-nigh vanished. With
the barbarian invasions and settlements of the fifth
century came, at the same time, the establishment
of monasticism, which had, perhaps, an even greater
influence upon education and civilization than it
had, at any rate in the earlier centuries, upon the
church and religion.

Monasticism was of Eastern origin, and its orig-
inal form partook very largely of the nature of East-
ern life, to which it was closely adapted. More-
over, in the East it had its origin in connection
with religions and philosophies more or less alien to
the true spirit of Christianity, and was based largely
on the doctrines of the duality and irreconcilable
antagonism of mind and body, of the essential evil
of matter as it existed in the world and in the body,
and of the necessity of subduing the physical and
of elevating the spiritual by absolute isolation from
the world in a life of bodily mortification and spir-
itual contemplation in a more or less mechanical
fashion. In other words, the spiritual element was
to be developed and maintained by the annihilation
of the physical. In the West, however, monasti-
cism was hardly known, especially among the new
peoples, except as the ally and agent of Christianity
and as permeated with its spirit, and this, together
with the natural difference of climate and of people,
gave to it essentially different characteristics and
tendencies. The redemption of the world, not the
destruction of matter, but its service, subordination,

3o8 The Age of Charlemagne.

if you will, to the higher development of man, is
the fundamental principle of Western monasticism.
Not always consciously present, we must admit,
but generally moulding and influencing Western
monastic life in its higher moments.

It is for this reason that the practical element of
the West, as distinct from the contemplative spirit
of the East, plays such a large part in its history,
and while the monks of the East, to whom their
own spiritual welfare was proposed as the sole aim
of existence tended to the unsocial, unproductive,
unbeneficent life, the monks of the West became
the cultivators of the soil, the teachers of agricul-
ture, the preservers of letters, and the teachers and
examples of the people. For just this reason, there-
fore, we find another theory in regard to the use
and advantages of the old pagan learning, a truer
reflection of the earlier spirit of St. Paul, Clement,
and Origen, which the monks of the West were able
to take up and to develop in the practical carrying
out of that famous motto, " Prove all things ; hold
fast that which is good," So they would not con-
demn the old learning, but just as it seemed about
to fall into decay and to perish, they rose to gather
up and to protect all that remained, that nothing
might be lost. The school as a place of learning,
for intellectual and higher spiritual influence, was,
therefore, an institution connected with monastic
foundations from the very earliest times, and though
at first its range of subjects was limited and its
methods narrow and inadequate, it soon began to
take the place of the old imperial municipal schools

Decline of Theological Learning. 309

which had disappeared rapidly under the attacks of
the church and of the Germans.

In the more important bishoprics in connection
with the preparation of candidates for the clerical
order, the episcopal or cathedral schools began to
attain great prominence. Learning, however, was
promoted for ecclesiastical purposes, so that read-
ing and the transcription of manuscripts were largely
confined to the Scriptures and to church services,
music to chanting, arithmetic and astronomy to the
calculation of Easter. Worse than all, there rose
the so-called fourfold system of interpreting the
Scriptures, encouraging the student to depart from
the plain, literal, or historical meaning of the text,
and to wander amid the vagaries and caprices of
the allegorical or typical and figurative, the tropo-
logical or moral and ethical, the anagogical or mys-
tical and purely speculative meaning and interpre-
tation, which a highly developed imagination might
be able to supply.

Under such influences, theological, as well as
other learning, sensibly declined, and the state to
which it came in the sixth century can be readily
learned from the words and writings of Gregory of
Tours. Under the Merovingians, learning almost
ceased to exist. It had found refuge in the church
and in the monasteries, but the condition of these
at the accession of Charles Martel was one of great
demoralization, although at the time the material
prosperity was very great, for it is estimated that at
the close of the seventh century the church owned
or controlled about one third of the territory of

3IO The Age of Charlemagne.

Gaul. But the demoralization of bishops, who en-
gaged in war, in hunting and in pleasures, and of
the monks, whose discipline had become very lax,
on account of their increase in wealth and of im-
munity from episcopal oversight and control, as well
as on account of their large accessions from the
lower classes, had become an open scandal.

The accession of Charles Martel had brought the
bishops under secular control, but his so-called work
of reformation consisted principally of wholesale
seizure of church property. He regarded the re-
sources of the church chiefly as sinews of war, or as
means of enabling him to reward his officers and
soldiers for military achievements.

The inroads of the Saracens completed the work
of devastation in the South, although by the mis-
sionary labors of Boniface and his followers a great
Christian work was done under the protection of
Charles Martel, but more particularly under his sons
and successors.

The revival of learning traces its origin to another
source. The revival of learning, as well as the re-
organization of the church and the further spread
of Christianity among the rising kingdoms of the
West, were due to men of Ireland and of England,
acting, for the most part, under the influence and
with the aid and inspiration of Rome. It was in
the monasteries and schools of Ireland that learn-
ing was maintained and developed unharmed by the
shock and confusion on the continent, attendant
upon the fall of Rome and the invasions and settle-
ments of the barbarians during the fifth and sixth

Irish and English Christianity. 311

centuries. In the islands of the West, scchided and
far from strife, Christianity and IcarniuL,^ developed
together. Special attention was given to the study
of the Scriptures in the monasteries of Ireland, and
ancient books of all kinds were diligently collected
and copied. From here Christianity and learning
spread to the Scots and Picts, and so down into
Northern England. The conversion of Southern
England by Augustine, and of the northern parts
by Aidan soon brought the two forces together, and
the English Church was united under the two great
centres of York and Canterbury ; but the great in-
spiration and a larger life came to the church in
England from Rome. The English Church, from
the very form and manner of its foundation, was
brought into a peculiar relation of dependence upon
the Church of Rome, and this was only increased
and confirmed by the decision at Whitby in 664.
This relation was regarded with the greatest pride
and satisfaction by the early kings and chief eccle-
siastics, especially by Bede and his school, so that
it continued to exist and to be still further devel-
oped. Pilgrimages by monks, nuns, bishops, nobles
and princes, and even kings,' were made to the
tomb of St. Peter at Rome. Thus the English
were brought into closer relations with Rome, and
this led, among other results, to the acquiring of rich
additions of literature and art. When, in ^6%, the
kings of Northumberland and of Kent had asked

' Ina, of Wessex, Gibbon, chap. xHx., note 36; Coenred of
Mercia, Bede, bk. v., ch. xxiv.; Ceadwalla, of Wessex, A. S.
Chronicle, an. 688, 709, 726, 728 ; Ethelwulf. of Wessex, A. S.
Chronicle, S55. Alfred was crowned in Rome by the pope.

The Age of Charlemagne.

the pope to select and send some one fitted for the
vacant See of Canterbury, Hadrian was first named.
He was an African by birth, of noted scholarship,
and at that time a monk or abbot of the Niridian
monastery in Naples, near Monte Cassino. He had
been in Gaul, but never in Britain, and the thought
of the great work and responsibility appalled him.
He secured, therefore, a learned Greek of St. Paul's
city of Tarsus, who was known as Theodore the
Philosopher. Theodore was induced to accept the
position, and was consecrated by the pope for the
vacant archbishopric, having received Hadrian's
promise to accompany him and aid him in his work.
In May, 669, Theodore arrived in Canterbury
accompanied by a young English monk, Benedict
Biscop, to be followed later by Hadrian, who had
been detained in Gaul. During the two years that
elapsed before Hadrian's arrival Biscop presided
over the new school which Theodore established at
Canterbury. We are quite right in tracing to Bene-
dict Biscop the foundation of those schools and the
instigation of that learning which made England
famous throughout the eighth and ninth centuries.
Born in 628 of a noble Northumbrian family, he de-
voted himself at the age of twenty-five to the mo-
nastic life, but it was to no dreary, selfish, and sense-
less asceticism. Monasticism was in his mind but
an agent of the church, a means to an end, and that
end not the salvation of a man's own soul, but the
redemption of the world and the building up of the
kingdom of God — a work which in his view de-
manded every advantage, the use of every oppor-

Befiedict Biscop. 313

tunity, and the development of all the faculties of
mind, soul, and body which a man possessed. Art,
literature, experience gained by travel, and wide
acquaintance with men and affairs, as well as strict
adherence to the Benedictine rules of discipline, were
all made use of in achieving this great end. It is
this earnest zeal and wide comprehensiveness that
makes the name of Benedict Biscop the first bright
ray in the intellectual life of England. There had
been learning in the island before, and there could
still be traced the influence of the Scotch and Irish
schools, with learning introduced from Gaul, but the
first original impulse in England is undoubtedly
due to Biscop. In 653 he made his first journey to
Rome, a second followed in 665, and a third in 671.
From each of these he returned laden with stores
of learning, of experience, and of literature, from
Rome and from Gaul, and especially from Vienne.
On his return from the third journey he received
from the Northumbrian king a large grant of land
at the mouth of the Wear, and founded the monas-
tery of St. Peter's at Wearmouth in 674. Here he
deposited his library, to which large additions were
made as the result of a fourth journey to Rome in
678. Workmen from Gaul, furniture, pictures,
glass, and lattice-work provided an artistic and suit-
able home for this great treasure, while an archchan-
tor from Rome instructed the monks in music and
in ritual. In 681 a sister institution was founded
near by, at Jarrow, on land given by the pleased
and grateful king. An additional wealth of pic-
tures and of books was secured by the indefatigable

314 '^^^^ ^S^ ^f CJiaylemagne.

Biscop in his fifth journey to Rome, in 687, from
which he returned worn, shattered, and partially
paralyzed, in which condition he lingered until his
death in 690. As he left the world he urged upon
his disciples and pupils the importance of maintain-
ing the monastic rule and discipline which he had
established after visiting seventeen different monas-
teries on the continent. He implored them to take
special care in the preservation of his precious
library, and particularly emphasized the duty of dis-
regarding the claims of nobility and of family in the
choice of spiritual rulers.

Bede has given us the fullest and most sympa-
thetic account of his life.'

The debt that England and, through England, the
Western Church owes to Benedict Biscop is a very
great one, and has scarcely ever been fairly recog-
nized, for it may be said that the civilization and
learning of the eighth century rested on the monas-
teries which he founded, which produced Bede, and,
through him, the school of York, Alcuin, and the
Carolingian schools, on which the culture of the
Middle Ages was based.'' The work of Bede, from
the age of seven, when he first came under the direc-
tion of Biscop, who was his teacher, patron, and
friend, until his death at Jarrow, in 735, is too well
known to require our present consideration.

His writings were numerous, and covered a vast
range of subjects, including commentaries and trans-

' Bede, " Historia Abbatum." Ed. Plummer, vol. i., pp. 364-370.
"^ Smith and Wace, "Dictionary of Christian Biography," art.
Benedict Biscop, by Bishop Stubbs.

Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury. 3 1 5

lations of the Old and New Testaments, grammar,
rhetoric, poetry, arithmetic, chronology, epigrams,
hymns, sermons, pastoral addresses and penitentials,.
and even some writings on natural science, besides
his great works of history and biography. Ilis
learning included the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin
languages, and quotations from Plato, Aristotle and
Homer, Seneca, Cicero, Lucretius, Ovid and Virgil
are found in his works. " I am my own librarian,
my own secretary, and make my own notes," he
writes.

In the mean time the work of Theodore at Can-
terbury had been going on. Hadrian, on his arrival,
proved a most useful assistant to the archbishop.
Both were able teachers, appreciated learning, and
soon attracted large numbers of eager disciples
through their influence. All the larger monasteries
were converted into schools of learning, in which
the laity, as well as the clergy, imbibed a respect
for knowledge, and in some cases a real love for it.

" Even the monasteries belonging to the fair
sex," said Hook, " were converted into seminaries
of learning, and the abbess, Hildelidis, with her
nuns, were, in the next generation, able to under-
stand the Grecisms of Aldhelm, in his Latin trea-
tise, ' De Laudibus Virginitatis,' written for their
special edification." ' In the time of Bede, as he
himself tells us, there were scholars of Theodore
and Hadrian who knew the Latin and Greek lan-
guages as well as their own.' In another place Bede

* Hook, vol. i., pp. 163, 164, ch. iv., § 2.
2 Bede, bk. iv., ch. ii.

3i6 The Age of CJiarlemagne.

says that Albinus, Hadrian's disciple and successor
in the government of the monastery at Canterbury,
was so proficient in the study of the classics, that
he knew Greek indeed in no small measure, and the
Latin as thoroughly as that of the Angles, which
was his native tongue.'

The Saxon Chronicle notices the death of Theo-
dore in the year 690 with this brief remark : *' Be-
fore this the bishops had been Romans, from this
time they were English." "^ In other words, this
great man had converted what had been a mission-
ary station into an established church, and had set
on foot an intellectual movement by which native
Englishmen were trained and fitted for the highest
positions in the English Church.

On the model of these schools, under the influ-
ence of Bede and of the monasteries of Wearmouth
and Jarrow, the most noted of all, the school of
York, was founded. From the time of Paulinus,
625, York had been the great ecclesiastical centre
of the North, and though, after his flight and the
introduction of the missionaries from the Ionian
monastery, who had made Landisfarne their seat,
its importance had waned, it was restored again by
the sjolendor and magnificence which the presence
of Wilfrid gave to it as his see city. Wilfrid, like
Biscop, had spent more time amid the greater cul-
ture of Gaul and Rome. He had seen the churches
of Rome and other Italian cities, and could not
endure the rough timber buildings thatched with

' Bede, bk. v., ch. xx.

' A. S, Chronicle, an. 6go. The Parker MS.

Archbishop Egbert of York. 317

weeds which the Saxons had built, aiul with which
the Ionian missionaries had been content. True,
the church of PauHnus at York had been built of
stone, but it was in ruins. Wilfrid repaired it,
roofed it with lead, and filled the windows with
glass. At Ripon he built a new church of cut
stones. It was of great height and supported by
columns, but the architectural wonder of the age
was the church at Hexham, surpassing in splendor
every church on that side of the Alps.

Through the influence of Bede, York was raised
to an archbishopric in 735, and from this time its
future greatness and importance were assured.
Egbert, the first archbishop, a friend and corre-
spondent of Bede, was a learned as well as wise and
successful ruler. His literary works are of great re-
pute, and to him is due the honor of estabhshing
the school of York, and the foundation of the library
in connection with it. Its relation with Wearmouth
and Jarrow must have been intimate and helpful.
From the start scholars flocked hither from all
parts of Europe, adding new honor to its fame and
influence and to the increase of its library, thus fur-
nishing a larger acquaintance with the wider field of
literature.

Alcuin has left us an interesting glimpse of
Egbert's scholastic life. In the morning, as soon
as he was at liberty, he used to send for some of the
young clerks, whom he instructed in succession.
At noon he celebrated mass in his private chapel.
Dinner was followed by a general discussion of lit-
erary subjects. In the evening Compline was said.

3i8 The Age of Charlemagne.

Stubbs says : " It is not too much to say that the
gentle influences of the school of York and of its
teachers kept Northumbria together until the close
of the century in which Egbert lived. At the last,
when Northumbria became hopelessly disorganized,
the disciples of Egbert were enlightening other
countries than those they w^ere intended to human-
ize. The pupils of the school of York taught the
schools and universities of Italy, of Germany, and
of France." '

The most famous scholar of all was Alcuin. He
was a Northumbrian of noble family, born about
735, at or near York. He was quite young when
he entered Egbert's cathedral school, with which
he remained connected, first as a scholar, then as
master, until he went to take up his residence at the
Prankish Court. He followed the usual lines of
instruction, being taught first to read, write, and
memorize the Latin psalms, then taking up the
rudiments of grammar and the other liberal arts,
and afterwards the study of the Holy Scriptures.
He soon became the most eminent pupil of the
school, then assistant master to Aelbert, and on
the death of Egbert, in ^66, when Aelbert suc-
ceeded to the archbishopric of York, Alcuin became
head-master of the school, and held the position of
Scholasticus. In 780, on Aelbert's death, he took
charge of the cathedral library, then the most
famous in England, and one of the most famous in
the Western world. It far surpassed any possessed

* Smith and Wace, " Dictionary of Christian Biography," vol,
;i., p. 51, art. Egbert.

The Library at York. 319

by cither England or France in the twelfth century,
whether at Canterbury, at Paris, or at Bee. The
full list of the volumes it contained is f^iven in a
poem written by Alcuin when it was under his
charge. The following is a translation :

'* There shalt thou find the volumes that contain
All of the ancient fathers who remain ;
There all the Latin writers make their home
With those that glorious Greece transferred to Rome —
The Hebrews draw from their celestial stream,
And Africa is bright with learning's beam.

" Here shines what Jerome, Ambrose, Hilary thought,
Or Athanasius and Augustine wrought,
Orosius, Leo, Gregory the Great,
Near Basil and Fulgentius coruscate.
Grave Cassiodorus and John Chrysostom
Next Master Bede and learned Anhelm come.
While Victorinus and Boethius stand
With Pliny and Pompeius close at hand.

*' Wise Aristotle looks on Tully near.
Sedulius and Juvencus next appear.
Then come Albinus, Clement, Prosper too,
Paulinus and Arator. Next we view
Lactantius, Fortunatus. Ranged in line
Virgilius Maro, Statius, Lucan, shine.
Donatus, Priscian, Probus, Phocas, start
The roll of Masters in grammatic art.
Eutychius, Servius, Pompey, each extend
The list. Comminian brings it to an end.

" There shalt thou find, O reader, many more.
Famed for their style, the masters of old yore,
Whose heavy volumes singly to rehearse
Were far too tedious for our present verse." '

> West, pp. 34, 35.

320 The Age of Charlemagne.

Two authors probably are omitted, Martianus
Capella and Isidore of Seville, on account of the
exigencies of the verse. Of Aristotle little v>^as
known except some quotations in Augustine, an
abridgment of the Categories falsely attributed to
Augustine, the " De Interpretatione," with the
translation of Porphyry's " Isagoge, " or Introduc-
tion, by Boethius, and logical treatises by the latter,
and this furnished all their material for the study
of logic. Nothing was known of the great ethical,
metaphysical, and scientific works of Aristotle. Of
Plato, the Phaedo and Timaeus were known, though
not mentioned by Alcuin. Boethius and Cassiodo-
rius formed the great mediaeval text-books in phi-
losophy. The work of Isidore was a great encyclo-
paedia, the most popular of all school collections.
Alcuin calls him " Liuncn Hispanice,'' but " it must
have been very dark in Spain." In astronomy he
tells us that the sun is larger than the moon or the
earth. There is little knowledge, and that of a
very vague sort.

Capella disputes with Augustine the honor of the
division of knowledge into the Trivinm, consisting
of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and the Qiiadrivium,
embracing arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and
music. His work is an allegorical presentation, in
the first two books, of the marriage of science
and eloquence, the attendant virgins being the
seven liberal arts, which he then proceeds to de-
scribe.

Gregory of Tours frankly admits that whatever
of the arts or sciences was to be known in his day

Mart tames Cape I la. 321

could be found in Martianus Capella.' His mythol-
ogy and cosmogony were hardly orthodox enough
for general use, and he is supposed to have sug-
gested the great discovery of Copernicus, pointing
out in his eighth chapter that Mercury and Venus
revolve not around the earth, but around the sun.

* Gregory, bk. x., ch. xxxi.

CHAPTER XXVII.

MEETING OF CHARLES AND ALCUIN — THE PALACE
SCHOOL — ALCUIN'S METHODS OF INSTRUC-
TION— CATHEDRAL SCHOOLS — ALCUIN ABBOT
OF TOURS.

rN the spring of 781 Charles and Alcuin
met at Parma, the greatest conqueror of
the age met the greatest scholar at the
most critical time, when the need was
greatest for the union of physical might
and of intellectual ability, in order to lay strong and
deep the great foundations, and to erect light and
firm the mighty walls of the Western Empire. The
rnen were well matched, and the most important
results were sure to follow their union, not only in
the cause of learning and of education, but also of
ecclesiastical and political affairs. They had met
once before, for Alcuin had been sent to Charles by
his master, Aelbert, archbishop of York, in 768.'
Charles was well prepared for the work which Alcuin
was destined to accomplish under his direction, for
from his earliest years he had been brought up in
the Christian faith and trained by special teachers.''

' Al;el-Simson, vol. i , p. 391 and note 6.

* Alcuin, " Adversus Elipantum." bk. i., ch. xvi. ; Abel-Simson,
vol. i.. p. 21.

322

Alcuin and the Palace School.

It was Aelbcrt's successor, Eanbald, who sent Al-
cuin to Rome to get from Pope Hadrian the pall
as the seal and recognition of his authority. On
his return he met Charles at Parma, as we have
seen, and in response to the royal request promised
to go to the Prankish Court, if he could gain per-
mission from his king and from Archbishop Ean-
bald. Permission being granted conditionally on
his promise to return later to England, the end of
781 or beginning of 782 found Alcuin at the court
of Charles. Here he became at once the head and
centre of the literary circle, which had been joined
already by Peter of Pisa, the Lombard Paul the
Deacon, and Paulinus the Grammarian. The lat-
ter, while in Italy, had been presented by Charles
with a landed estate, and was made patriarch of
Aquileia, probably in 787.' It was undoubtedly
the stay which Charles made in Italy which gave
the occasion for the meeting and the union of
these scholars. During his residence there his at-
tention had been drawn frequently to the intel-
lectual superiority of the Italians, and the deter-
mination was strong within him to free his own
people from the yoke of ignorance. P^'rom this
time on his efforts were unfailing, and he took ad-
vantage of every means to gain this end. A palace
school had from time immemorial existed at the
Prankish Court long before the time of Charles,'
although, as Charles himself says, " the study of
letters had been well-nigh extinguished by the

' Abel-Simson, vol. i., pp. 411, 412.
' Mombert, p. 243.

324 The Age of Charlemagne.

neglect of his ancestors." ' This school Charles de-
termined to restore.

Walafrid, in his preface to Einhard's Life of
Charles, thus speaks of him : " Indeed, of all kings
he was the most eager to seek out wise men and to
bring them to great honor, that they might apply
themselves to the pursuit of wisdom with real pleas-
ure. So the cloudy and, I might almost say, the
black extent of the kingdom committed to him by
God, he gave back luminous with a new and before
partly unknown ray of learning, God illuminating
him." ^ All the scholars just mentioned formed the
nucleus of this great intellectual work. Peter had
taught grammar with great distinction in the school
at Pavia, and, on the capture of that city by Charles,
he had foUow^ed the conqueror to the Prankish
Court, and he remained with Charles until his death,
at an advanced age, near the close of the century.'

Paul the Deacon was also an eminent Lombard
scholar educated at the court of Rachis in Pavia.
He was born about 725, and entered the Prankish
Court in 782. His relations with Charles were very
cordial, though he retired to a monastery in 787,
where he wrote his famous history of the Lom-
bards, tracing their history down to 744, where he
ought to have begun it. But all these scholars
were far surpassed by Alcuin in vigor of mind and
in range of learning. Real originality was not to
be found anywhere, but Alcuin's powers were of the

^ Iloretius, vol. i., p. 80.

* Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 507.

' Abel-Simson, vol. i., pp. 391, 411 ; Mombert, p. 260.

Alc7iin and Charles. 325

most effective kind, and admirably suited to his time
and place. He was a great critic, an able compiler,
and an intelligent, active student, an earnest and
sympathetic teacher, who knew how to make the
most of his resources, and in his teaching to bring
all his material into play. Alcuin, like Charles, was
earnestly devoted to the maintenance of the Catho-
lic faith, and he had undoubtedly brought from
England that strong feeling of devotion and grati-
tude to Rome, which Bede felt and had done so
much to foster and to encourage, and which showed
itself so plainly in the labors and methods of the
great EngHsh missionary, Boniface. Neither he
nor Charles showed any cringing or timid subservi-
ency to the Roman bishop, and each supported the
other in maintaining the absolute freedom of the
Prankish Kingdom from anything like papal domi-
nation or absolutism, yet both maintained and
sought to uphold the dignity, lofty position, and
wide usefulness of the Roman Church.

It was not an opportune time when Alcuin arrived
at the court of Charles, for the king was in the bit-
terest and closing part of the first series of Saxon
wars. It is, therefore, only one more evidence of
the wide range of his interests, and the vigor and
determination of his spirit, that in the midst of such
affairs he could find time and energy for the estab-
lishment of a palace school, and it shows that he
regarded the maintenance of learning in his king-
dom as only second in importance to the main-
tenance of the empire itself. It is also to be noted
that in the school founded by Charles in his palace,

o

26 T/ie Age of Charlemagne,

attended as it was by the members of the royal
family, and by the distinguished nobles of the court,
learning was to be followed for larger interests and
with wider purposes than could be realized in the
training of the monks and of the clergy. Not only
did Charles revere learning for its own sake, but he
saw the value it would have in the moral and intel-
lectual improvement of the whole kingdom.

Here, then, it would be necessary to go beyond
the ordinary chanting and reading of select passages
in the Latin Bible, and calculating the return of
Easter, and the learning of the times would have to
be adapted to a school made up of adult students.
Of the king's own attainments Einhard says :

Gifted with a ready and easy flowing power of
speech, he expressed clearly whatever he wished to
say. He was not satisfied with his native tongue
alone, but applied himself to the study of other
languages, particularly to Latin, which he could
speak as well as he could his own, but Greek he
understood better than he spoke. He was so ready
and fluent a speaker, that he might have passed for
a teacher of rhetoric. He most zealously fostered
the liberal arts, and held in the greatest veneration
and loaded with honors those who taught them.

'* He spent much time and labor in studying
rhetoric, dialectic, and especially astronomy, in
which he seemed to take a peculiar interest. He
learned the art of reckoning, and gave much atten-
tion to investigating the courses of the stars. He
tried also to write, and used to keep tablets and
blanks at the head of his bed, that at leisure hours he

Reading and Writing. 327

might accustom his hand to form tlic letters, but he
did not succeed very well in this work on account of
his age and because he began too late in life." ' On
this subject of his writing there has been a great
deal of childish discussion which is much beside the
mark. Gibbon says, with a contemptuous fling,

In his mature age the emperor strove to acquire
the practice of writing, which every peasant now
learns in his infancy." ^

The truth is, reading and writing were not then,
as now, the simple tests of elementary learning.
On account of the scarcity of books and the ex-
pense and difficulty of procuring materials for writ-
ing, almost all instruction was given orally, even in
the palace school itself, as may be seen by the ex-
amples to be given. The study of reading and
writing formed a special branch of the technical
training, reserved exclusively for monks and other
clergy, as having special need for these acquire-
ments. Consequently the knowledge of how to
read and write is no more to be taken as the test of
general education in the early Middle Ages, than a
knowledge of Hebrew or of Dogmatic Theology
would be to-day.

If further confirmation of this fact were sought,
it could be found in the well-known immunity from
the secular courts, granted to all clergymen, and
called " Benefit of Clergy," it being only necessary
to show one's ability to read and write to prove
" Clergy," and to receive the immunity.

The clearest idea of the method and amount of

' Einhard, "Vita," ch. xxv. - Gibbon, ch. xlix.

328

The Age of Charlemagne.

instruction given under Alcuin at this palace
school may be gained from some of the conversa-
tions and lessons actually in use, and which have
come down to us.

Dr. Mombert has given us most interesting ones
in his very valuable work on Charles the Great,
from which some quotations may be made. " An
entertaining specimen of catechetical instruction,
drawn up by Alcuin for Pippin, and, presumably,
others of his more youthful hearers, is here pre-
sented. It is taken from * The Disputation of Pip-
pin, the most noble and royal youth, with Albinus
[another nickname for Alcuin], the pedagogue,' and
we add, that Pippin was then about sixteen years
old.

P. What is writing ?

P. What is speech ?

P. What produces speech ?

P. What is the tongue ?

P. What is air?

P. What is life ?

P. What is death ?

p

What is man ?

A.

p.

What is man like ?

A.

p.

Mow is man placed ?

A.

P. Where is he placed

A. The custodian of history.
A. The interpreter of the soul.
A. The tongue.
A. The whip of the air.
A. The guardian of life.
A, The joy of the good, the sor
row of the evil, the expec-
tation of death.
A. An inevitable event, an un-
certain journey, a subject of
weeping to the living, the
fulfilment of wills, the thief
of men.

The slave of death, a tran-
sient traveller, a host in his
dwelling.
Like a fruit tree.
Like a lantern exposed to the

wind.
Between six walls.

MetJiod of Instruction,

329

p. Which are they

A. Above, below, before,
hind, right, left.

be-

P. To how many changes is he

liable ?
P. Which are they ?

A. To six.

A. Hunger and satiety; rest and
work ; walking and sleep-
ing.

A. The image of death.

A. Innocence.

A. The top of the body.

A. The domicile of the soul.

" Then follow twenty-six questions on the differ-
ent parts of the body, of which a few may suffice :
P. What is the beard ? A. The distinction of sex. the

P. What is sleep ?

P. What is the liberty of man?

P. What is the head ?

P. What is the bodv ?

P. What is the mouth ?
P. What is the stomach ?
P. What are the feet ?

A. The distinction of sex,

honor of age.
A. The nourisher of the body.
A. The cook of food.
A. A movable foundation.

" From a number af questions on natural science,
we select these :

P. What is light ?
P. What is day ?
P. What is the sun ?

P. What is the moon ?
P, What are the stars ?

P. What is rain ?
P. What is fog ?

A. The torch of all things.

A. An incitement to work.

A. The splendor of the universe,
the beauty of the sky, the
glory of day, the distribu-
tor of the hours.

A. The eye of night, the dis-
penser of dew, the prophet
of storms.

A. The pictures of the roofs
of the heavens, the guides
of sailors, the ornament of
night.

A. The reservoir of the earth,
the mother of the fruits.

A. Night in day ; a labor of the
eves.

330

The Age of Charlemagne.

p. What is wind ?

P. What is the earth ?

P. What is the sea ?

/•. What is frost ?

P. What is snow ?

/'. What is winter?

P. What is spring?

P. What is summer ?

P. What is autumn ?

A. The disturbance of the air,
commotion of the waters,
the dryness of the earth,

A. The mother of all that grows,
the nourisher of all that
lives, the barn of life, an
omnivorous gulf.

A. The path of the daring, the
frontier of land, the divid-
er of continents, the hos-
telry of rivers, the founda-
tion of rain, a refuge in
peril, a treat in pleasure.

A. A persecutor of plants, a de-
stroyer of leaves, a fetter
of earth, a fountain of
water.

A. Dry water.

A. The exile of summer.

A. The painter of the earth.

A. The reclothing of the earth,
the maturer of the fruits.

A. The barn of the year.

" It Is probable that dialogue was the distinctive
feature of Alcuin's oral teaching. At any rate, it
characterized his instruction of the king, as appears
from the subjoined example, in which Charles is
introduced as pupil and Alcuin as his teacher.

Charles. Proceed now with
your philosophic definitions of
the virtues, and first of all de-
fine virtue.

Charles. How many parts
does it contain ?

Charles. What is prudence?

Alcuin. Virtue is a habit of
the mind, an ornament of na-
ture, a rule of life, and an en-
nobler of manners.

Ali2iin. Four : Prudence
(wisdom), justice, fortitude,
temperance.

Alcuin. The knowledge of
things and nature.

CJia7'lcs

as a

Pupa

Zl"^

Charles. How many parts
does it contain ?

Charles. Tell me their defini-
tions also.

memory,
foresight

Charles. Explain the nature
of justice.

Charles. Unfold also the
parts of justice.

Charles. How from the law
of nature ?

Charles, Explain this more
clearly, and one by one.

Alcuiu. Three :
intelligence, and
{pro7>idential).

Alcuiu. Memory is the pow-
er of the mind which recalls
the past ; intelligence is the
power by which it perceives
the present ; foresight is the
power by which it foresees
something future before it
comes to pass.

Alcuin. Justice is the habit of
the mind which gives to every-
thing the merit it deserves ; it
preserves the worship of God,
the laws of man, and the equi-
ties of life.

Alcuiu. They spring from
the law of nature, and the uses
of custom.

Alcuin. Because it comprises
certain powers of nature, such
as religion, piety, gratitude
{gratia), vindication, observ-
ance, and truth.

Alcuin. Religion is the care-
ful pondering of things per-
taining to God, together with
the ceremonial due to him.
Piety is the loving discharge
of what is due to kin and to
one's native land (?'. e., in mod-
ern phrase, patriotism). Grati-
tude is the recollection of an-
other's acts of friendship and
kindness, and the disposition
to reward them. Vindication
is the effectual defence of what
is right, and the effectual pun-
ishment or avengement of in-

The Age of Charlemagne.

Charles. How \% justice sub-
served by the use of custom ?

Charles. I ask also for more
information on these points.

jury and wrong. Observance
is the respectful and honorable
recognition of the dignity of
superiors. Truth is the power
whereby things present, past,
and future are declared.

Alciiin. By pact or agree-
ment ; by parity, i.e., equity,
by judgment ; and by law.

Alcuin. A pact is an agree-
ment reached by mutual con-
sent. Parity is observing equi-
ty or impartiality to all men.
Judgment is a decision ren-
dered by some great man, or
established by the sentence of
a plurality. Law is right set
forth for the whole people,
which all are bound to guard
and observe.

*' Thus Charles spoke and thought ; and this brief
dialogue both marks the man in at least one grand
and unusual element of his greatness, and to some
extent sheds light on at least one prolific source of
his power.

He was ever learning, and fond of learning ; no
subject came amiss to him ; everything, from the
most commonplace, every-day occurrence to the
profoundest philosophical and theological inquiries,
interested him — the price of commodities ; the stock-
ing and planting of farms ; the building of houses,
churches, palaces, bridges, fortresses, ships, and
canals ; the course of the stars ; the text of the
Scriptures ; the appointment of schools ; the sallies
of wit ; the hair-splitting subtleties of metaphysics ;

Aleut US Grammar. 333

the unknown depths of theology ; the origins of hiw ;
the reason of usage in the manner and Hfc of the na-
tions ; their traditions in poetry, legend, and song ;
the mysterious framework of liturgical forms ; musi-
cal notation ; the Gregorian chant ; the etymology
of words ; the study of languages ; the flexion of
verbs, and many more topics." *

In the life of Alcuin, by Lorcnz, is to be found
an interesting example in his work on grammar.
In grammar the beginning of the section on prepo-
sitions may serve as an example. To the question,
* What is a preposition ? ' the answer is, ' An in-
declinable part of speech.' Here an accidental,
outward form is made the principal characteristic,
and is so much the less accurate as there are many
other words besides prepositions which are inde-
clinable. Equally defective is the reply to the sec-
ond question on the use of prepositions. ' They
must be placed before other parts of speech, either
by being compounded with or united to them.' A
peculiarity like this can only be a sign, not a defini-
tion, and besides this explanation excludes all the
prepositions that are placed after their cases. Al-
cuin's grammar was evidently written more for the
memory than for the understanding." '

' The study of Greek at that time seems to have
held about the same relation to a higher education
that the study of German held with us a quarter or
a half a century ago. There was a great deal said
about Greek. Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury,

' Mombert, pp. 244-251. See also Guizot, lecture 22.
' Lorenz, pp. 25, 26.

334 ^^^^ ^S^ ^f Chaidemagne.

had introduced it into England, and it was taught in
the schools of York, so that Bede is led to say that
there were in his day scholars still living as well
versed in the Greek and Latin tongue as in their
own ; but this seems to have been a very notable
feature which, by the words " still living," could
not be expected to be true very long. The knowl-
edge of the Greek New Testament and of the Sep-
tuagint was kept alive for a while, but other Greek
books, even of the early Christian Fathers, were
very scarce. Nearly, if not all the Greek quota-
tions in Alcuin's writings are taken not, as might
appear, from the original, but from the works of
St. Jerome. When Alcuin stepped beyond this
limit he showed how little he really knew about
Greek.* As to his knowledge of Greek and Hebrew,
Haureau says : " There is no evidence that he
studied Hebrew, since the Hebrew to be found in
his commentaries on Genesis and on Ecclesiastes
is taken directly from Jerome. He knew some
Greek, as one of his letters to Angilbert testifies,
but if he had understood this language perfectly,
would he not have reproduced with more exactness
the Greek names of the Ten Categories ? But why
should we stop to conjecture, and thus make obscure
what is very plain ? Alcuin had some glosses of
Boethius, the abridgments of Cassiodorius, and of
Isidore of Seville, and a poetic manual of Martianus
Capella. There is nothing in his treatise on Dialec-
tic which is not found in these writings, and in the

' Mullinger, on page 80, has pointed out some very amusing
but egregious blunders.

A kill lis Greek. 335

treatise on the Ten Categories. He has made only
an abridgment of other abridgments."' His re-
marks on the nature of the soid in different places
of his works are always in the same terms, and are
taken from Augustine's sixty-third sermon on the
Gospel of St. John. Again, from his treatise, " De
Ratione Animae," his remarks on the origin of ideas,
on memory, and on imagination are taken directly
from the eleventh book of Augustine on the Trin-
ity, and from his letter to Consentius.' On a closer
examination Mullinger has shown very plainly that
the boasted letter to Angilbert contained no more
Greek than is furnished by Jerome. MuUinger's
remark that '* the younger members of the palace
school seem to have required to be at once in-
structed and amused, much after the way that would
now seem well adapted to a night school of Somer-
setshire rustics, while Alcuin's knowledge of Greek
can scarcely be supposed to have exceeded that of
an intelligent schoolboy well on in his First Delec-
tus," ^ seems rather severe, but cannot be far from
the truth. We must remember, however, that
Alcuin not only was laboring under the disadvan-
tage of scarcity of material and of immaturity in his
pupils, but was further hampered and confined by
the traditions of the church. The art of grammar
had been regarded as not only teaching to read and
to write correctly, but also to understand and to
prove clearly, and in carrying out this conception
the classical authors were of great importance ; but

J Haur^au, vol. i., p. 105. "•' Ibid., vol. i., pp. 103, 104.

2 Mullinger, p. 83.

336 The Age of Charle^nagne.

from the time of Gregory the Great the study had
dwindled to the most technical knowledge of the
Latin language. This led to Gregory's own words
expressing concern that the archbishop of Vienne,
who was giving instruction in conformity with the
larger conception, could give instruction in gram-
mar, inasmuch as the praises of Christ cannot be
uttered by the same tongue as those of Jove. In
regard to dialectic, still greater aversion was felt
and manifested, largely on account of the use made
of it in arguments against Christianity. True, as
we have seen, it began to creep into the church
from Porphyry and Boethius, and so on through
Cassiodorius and Isidore, but the form was so shriv-
elled and distorted as to be almost unrecognizable.
Both dialectic and rhetoric were comprised under
the head of logic, and Alcuin reproduced the same
arbitrary classification. When we come to external
nature or the study of anything like science, as pre-
sented in the Quadrivium, the weakness and lack
are almost pitiable. In arithmetic the treatment is
largely mystical, fancies and whims of the imagina-
tion being identified with the various numbers.'
In astronomy, fancy or arbitrary hypothesis sup-
plied the place of observation." "^ As a theologian,
however, Alcuin ranked very high, and his attain-
ments seemed to be more truly deserved. The
famous Caroline books against image worship have
been connected with his name, and in the main

* Lorenz, pp. 32-37, " Even arithmetic first derived its title to
be considered a science from its adaptation to theology."
» Mullinger, p. 88.

Lack of Originality, 337

were probably his work. The declaration at the
Synod of Frankfort, in 794, closed with the state-
ment : " The holy synod itself was reminded that
it should deem it meet to receive Alcuin to partici-
pation in its discussions and decisions, because he
was a man learned in ecclesiastical doctrine, and
the whole synod consented to the admonition of the
lord king, and received him into full association with
them."'

But originality was noticed only to be condemned
in the theology of that age, and Alcuin was the
most perfect representative of the theology of his
time — orthodox but timid, repeating what he found
in accredited books rather than trying to present
ideas. His statements and positions are admirable
as a summary, but he is a pedagogue rather than a
scholar. There is no evidence of advance or devel-
opment in his conception. His influence in the
Carolingian schools is especially discernible in the
manner in which he perpetuated and enhanced the
authority of the fathers. His commentaries are
little more than reproductions of Ambrose, Augus-
tine, Jerome, Chrysostom, Gregory and Bede.

The larger influence of Alcuin is seen when, after
the conclusion of the Saxon war by the submission
of Wittikind, in 785, a seven years' peace ensued,
broken only by a few minor campaigns — Brittany
in 786 ; Benevento in 787 ; Bavaria in 788, and
against the Welatabrians in 789. In 787 Charles
issued his famous letter, " De Litteris Colendis."
Ampere calls this the " charter of modern thought,

* Boretius, vol. i., p. 7S.
V

00*

The Age of Charlemagne.

from which dates the birth of an intellectual move-
ment which still survives," ' and it surely may be
considered as perhaps the most important docu-
ment of the Middle Ages.

Among the most glaring deficiencies resulting
from the state of things which the king sought to
remedy was the number of incorrectly transcribed
copies of portions of the Scriptures, breviaries and
homiHes scattered throughout the realm. Along
with the decline of learning, the monastic libraries
had suffered greatly from neglect, while the loss of
papyrus, owing to the occupation of Egypt by the
Saracens, had largely increased the costliness of the
material. The letter is addressed to Baugulf, who
was abbot of Fulda from 780 to 782. Charles de-
clared that he, together with his counsellors, re-
garded it as advantageous that the cathedrals and
monasteries should be engaged in the pursuit of
letters and apt to teach, to accomplish which he
orders that men be chosen for this work who have
the will, the capacity, and the desire of teaching
others." Similar orders were given in the " General
Admonition" of 789.^

The next royal instructions on the subject were
contained in a circular letter on the occasion of send-
ing around to the churches a homilary, or collection
of sermons, made by Paulus Diaconus. He de-
clares : " We have endeavored to make up for the
inactivity of our fathers by the earnest study of

' Ampere, vol. iii., pp. 25, 27.
''■ Boretius, vol. i., pp. 78, 79.

•* Ibid., p. 60, Adinon. Gen., c. 72, " Schools in each cathedral
and monastery."

Alcicins Difficulties. 339

letters, and, so far as wc can by our example, to
encourage the study of the liberal arts. Already
the books of the Old and New Testaments, cor-
rupted through the negligence of copyists, we, too,
have carefully corrected. We have made the same
efforts and endeavors to correct the errors in the
lessons for the various services, and we have en-
joined that the work of Paulus Diaconus should be
distributed and read, so that the sayings of the
Catholic fathers may be carefully studied and well
known."'

Although the position of Alcuin was a most hon-
orable one, and he received from the king every
favor and support, it was no easy task to be the uni-
versal instructor of the whole kingdom. It was no
wonder that he sometimes found it hard to satisfy
the insatiable curiosity of the king, or that, pressed
beyond his powers, he was driven sometimes into
confused or self-contradictory statements. " A
horse," he says, " which has four legs often stum-
bles ; how m.uch more must man, w^io has but one
tongue, often trip in speech !" ' Furthermore, the
school was frequently on the move to one or an-
other of the royal residences, while other more seri-
ous interruptions came in the shape of wars, politi-
cal affairs, and the excitements of court life.

Alcuin revisited England in 790, and attended the
council at Frankfort in 794 as " a delegate from
Britain."' The relations between England and
the Frankish Kingdom were growing more strained,

* Boredus, vol. i., pp. So, 81. "^ Migne, vol. c; Ep. 84.

• Boretius, vol. i., p. 78, note 59.

340 The Age of Charlemagne.

and the court of Charles too often served as a ref-
uge for English outlaws. War seemed on the point
of breaking out between Offa, king of Mercia, and
Charles, when the return of Alcuin restored har-
mony, or at any rate averted war. In 796, a short
time after Alcuin's return, he was presented to the
abbacy of Tours, and a new career opened before
him, Theodulf succeeding him in the more general
oversight of education. The Abbey of Tours
offered one of the highest positions in the church.
It was the wealthiest in the kingdom, and, by the
possession of relics of St. Martin, second only to
Rome as a centre of devoted pilgrimage and of re-
ligious enthusiasm. Here he established a school
for the training of young monks. His first aim
being to provide them with a good library, he
begged Charles to allow him to send to England
some of his young scholars, " that they might bring
back to Frankland the flowers of Britain, so that
these might diffuse their fragrance and display their
colors at Tours as well as at York." ** In the morn-
ing of my life," he said, " I sowed in Britain, but
now in the evening of that life, when my blood be-
gins to chill, I cease not to sow in Frankland, earn-
estly praying that by God's grace the seeds may
spring up in both countries." '

It is well that he did. Civil strife and discord
were devastating the North, and the Danes were
already appearing on the shores of that fair land
where Biscop, Theodore, Bede, and Alcuin had
labored so hard to establish learning and education.
' Migne, vol. c, p. 208 ; Ep. 43.

Alcuhi as Abbot of Tours. 341

Soon those centres of wisdom would be pilla<^ed and
destroyed by the blasphemous hands of i^niorant
barbarians. Had not the Northumbrian learniner
been brought in the person of Alcuin to the court
of Charles, it must have perished utterly in the
Danish invasions of the ninth century.

Alcuin's greatest work was done as abbot of
Tours. Freed from the conventionalities and dis-
tractions of the court, he could carry out in his
monastery his ideas and principles of education, and
devote himself without opposition to his work.
The narrowness which had already shown itself in
his close following of Gregory the Great and ]k*de,
became now still more apparent. St. Martin's
school had long been famous as the chief centre for
the education of the clergy, and Alcuin took up the
work with zeal and ability. Science and the classics
found little place here, and severer rules than could
have been enforced in the palace schools restricted
the monks, especially the younger ones, to more
technically sacred studies. An incident from the
biography of Alcuin at this period will illustrate
this fact. Sigulf, with two younger monks, Aldricus
and Adalbert, afterward abbot of Ferrieres, began
the study of Virgil, although it had been forbidden.
*' The sacred poets," said the abbot, " are enough
for you. You do not need to sully your minds in
the rank luxuriance of Virgil's verse." For some
time Alcuin remained in ignorance of what was
going on, but at last he discovered it and sent for
Sigulf. *' How is this, Virgilian, that without my
knowledge, contrary to my direct command, thou

342 The Age of Charlemagne,

hast begun to study Virgil ?" He then and there
secured a promise that the objectionable poet
should be studied no more, and dismissed the monk
with a severe reprimand.

However, from all sides students flocked to the
school at Tours, many from England being espe-
cially welcomed, and attaining positions of great
honor. Thus Alcuin's greatest work was done, not
in the teaching of princes, but in the training of
teachers. Many of the great names mentioned in
the cause of learning in the ninth century were of
those who studied under Alcuin at Tours.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

IRISH LEARNING — ST. PATRICK — COLUMBANUS —
IRISH MISSIONS AND MONASTERIES ON THE
CONTINENT — IRISH SCHOLARS AT THE COURT
OF CHARLES— OPPOSITION OF ALCUIN — DEATH
OF ALCUIN.

UT new influences were at work in the
kingdom of Charles, and new methods
and principles of learning and of educa-
tion were being introduced. The great
missionary work of the English Boniface,
which had been carried on with such success under
Charles Martel and Pippin, had served to spread not
only Christianity, but the influence of the Roman
spirit and the rule of Benedict, and thus in a great
measure had prepared the way for Alcuin. His
great success threatened to hide from view the
labors of another line of workers gifted with another
kind of spirit.

By the efforts of one of the most noted saints and
missionaries of the Christian Church, St. Patrick,
monasteries and schools had been spread over Ire-
land, until it gained the name it has since borne in
history, " The Island of the Saints." Persecuted

343

344 ^^^^ ^S^ ^f Charlemagne.

by one of the petty kings, whose morals he had en-
deavored to correct, Columba, St. Patrick's suc-
cessor, had, in 565, taken refuge in the island of
lona, where he built a monastery, which soon be-
came celebrated, both as a centre of great and suc-
cessful missionary efforts among the Picts, the in-
habitants of what is now known as Scotland, and as
a source of Christian light and learning. Columba
died in lona in the very year in which Augustine,
missionary from the pope of P.ome, set foot on the
island of Thanet, on the southern shores of Britain.
In these monasteries and schools, far in the North
and West, there was kindled and burned brightly a
light of Christian zeal and learning, which had been
lighted from other flames than those of Rome, and
which reflected more of the glory of the Greek spirit
of the East.

Far removed from the turmoil of the great inva-
sions on the Continent the light burned steadily on,
cut off by the conquest of the Saxons in the fifth
century from intercourse with the rest of the great
church of the West. Not content, however, to re-
main thus isolated and inactive, though powerless
to reach the fierce Saxon hordes, by whom their
Christian brethren had been ruthlessly put to death
or driven westward to the mountains, they looked
beyond, across the sea, for the fields white for the
harvest. Fridolin was the first Celtic missionary to
cross the Channel, about the year 500, laboring in
Aquitania among the Arian Visigoths, continuing
under the protection of Clovis after the conquest by
the Franks in 507. He labored also among the

Celtic Missionaries, 345

Alemanni, but little definite information regarding
his work has come down to us.

Another Irish monk, Columbanus, born in 543,
trained in the monastery of l^angor, in the Province
of Ulster, educated in the highest studies in classi-
cal as well as in sacred learning, crossed over to
Gaul in the year 590, and, where Christianity had
suffered most, began to plant monasteries, the seeds
of Christian life, learning and civilization. As the
result of his life of labor and of sacrifice he left as
monuments of his devotion three great monasteries
— the first, at Anegrey, built in the forest of the
Vosges on the ruins of an ancient castle ; the sec-
ond, Luxeuil, on the southeastern frontier of Aus-
trasia, already famous for its learning in the seventh
century, when learning among the Franks was well-
nigh dead ; and the third at Bobbio, near Parma,
in Italy, by permission of the Lombard king,
Agilulf. Here he died in 615. His ablest follower
founded in Alemannia the justly famous monastery
named for him, St. Gall. These labors not only
sprang from different sources, but were of a very
different character from those we have just been
considering, and these differences are of great im-
portance in history, and at one time gave promise
of still greater importance. They require brief con-
sideration.

In the early centuries the union between the Brit-
ish and Irish churches and the Church of Gaul had
been quite close, and, as is well known, Christianity
had been brought to Gaul from the East, especially
from Asia Minor. But all intercourse with the

34^ The Age of Charlemagne.

Continent had been broken off by the Saxon con-
quest of Britain, and when once more the Celtic
Church came face to face with Continental Chris-
tianity, either in the courts of English kings, con-
verted by missionaries from Rome, or in the course
of their own missionary exploits among the German
tribes, important differences appeared. These clearly
showed themselves in the reckoning of Easter, the
form of the tonsure, the consecration of a bishop,
the baptism of children, the absence of required
celibacy, and in a peculiar liturgy and a different
system of monastic rules/ Of still more signifi-
cance, however, was the fact that since the con-
demnation of the * * Three Chapters" there had arisen
a great mistrust of Roman orthodoxy. Pelagius I.
had acknowledged the authority of the Fifth Coun-
cil, but this led to a tedious schism between several
Western churches and Rome,^ inasmuch as for a
long time in the Western Church the rejection of
the " Three Chapters" was considered a violation of
orthodoxy, and on this account the bishops of Italy
broke off their communion with Rome. The
bishops of Milan and Ravenna were reconciled, in-
deed, when, oppressed by the Arian Lombards,
they were compelled to set a greater value on com-
munion with the Catholic Church, but the arch-
bishop of Aquileia, who since the conquest of Italy
by the Lombards had resided on the island of Grado,
and the Istrian bishops were more obstinate, and
did not renew their fellowship with Rome until the
year 698. These *' Three Chapters," as they were

' Gieseler, vol. i., p. 530. " Ibid., vol. i., p, 481.

Cohtmbanus. 347

called, were the writings of Theodore of Mopsucstia,
Theodoret's writings against Cyril, and the letter
of Ibas to Maris, the two latter having been ex-
pressly pronounced orthodox by the Council of
Chalcedon.' Indeed, the decisions of the Council
of Chalcedon were regarded by the Egyptian party
as completely Nestorian." All these differences
had been settled as far as England was concerned
at the Council of Whitby, in 664, in favor of the
customs and beliefs upheld by Rome, but the
work of Columbanus and his companions on the
Continent revived the question. Columbanus had
already come into conflict with the Prankish bish-
ops regarding the time of the celebration at Easter
while at Luxeuil. " True," he said, " the diver-
sity of customs and traditions has greatly disturbed
the peace of the church, but if we only strive in
humility to follow the example of our Lord, we
shall next acquire the power of mutually loving each
other as true disciples of Christ, with all the heart
and without taking offence at each other's failings,
and soon men would come to the knowledge of the
true way if they sought the truth with equal zeal,
and none were inclined to borrow too much from
self, and each sought his glory only in the Lord.
One thing I beg of you, that since I am the cause
of this difference, and I came for the sake of our
common Lord and Saviour as a stranger into this
land, I may be allowed to live silently in these for-
ests near the bones of our seventeen brethren, as I
have been permitted to live twelve years among
' Gieseler, vol. i., p. 479- '^ ^''"''^•' vol. i., p. 359. note 66.

34^ ^^^-^ -^S^ ^f Charlemagne,

you already, that so as in duty bound we may pray
for you as hitherto v/e have done. May Gaul em-
brace us all at once as the kingdom of heaven v/ill
embrace us if we shall be found worthy of it." '
From Bobbio he wrote to the pope himself, shovv--
ing how he had been impressed by the power and
majesty of Rome. He pronounced her the mis-
tress, and speaks in the highest terms of her author-
ity, especially on the ground that St. Peter and St.
Paul had taught there and honored it by their mar-
tyrdom. But he places the Church of Jerusalem
for similar reasons in a still higher rank,'' and he ad-
monished the Roman Church, and declared that her
power would remain with her only so long as she
guarded the truth, and that only he was the true
key-bearer of the kingdom of heaven, who by true
knowledge opened the door for the worthy and shut
it upon the unworthy. He warned the Roman
Church against setting up any arrogant claims, on
the ground that the keys of the kingdom of heaven
were given to St. Peter, since they could have no
force in opposition to the faith of the universal
church.^ This was plain speaking on the part of an
Irish monk, and showed a deeper harmony with the
spirit of the Greek theology than with the Roman
external economy of a visible organization; while
in the three great monasteries that marked the
route of St. Columban's apostolate — Luxeuil, St.
Gall, and Bobbio — numerous manuscripts of Origen

* Neander, vol. lii., pp. 32, 33.

' Roma orbis terrarum caput est ecclesiarum salva loci dc:r.ini-
cus resurrectonis singulari praerogativa.
2 Neander, vol. iii., p. 35.

Irish Theology and Learning. 349

and other Greek fathers, written in the clc^^ant Irish
character, long remained to attest the more inquir-
ing spirit in which the studies of their communities
were pursued. Other differences of a more specific
character excited the jealousy and distrust of the
Latin clergy. The Irish theologian did not concur
in their condemnation and neglect of classical litera-
ture. He was not infrequently acquainted to some
extent with Greek. He used the Latin version of
the New Testament that was not the Vulgate, and
claimed to be anterior to Jerome. His text-book of
elementary instruction was more often than not the
dangerously speculative treatise Martianus Capella.'
The scholars of Ireland were probably not un-
known to Charles. Einhard speaks of the rich gifts
to Irish kings, which bound them to the king of the
Franks, so that they called him their lord and them-
selves his slaves.^ When, therefore, some of them,
Clement of Ireland and his companions, presented
themselves at the court, they were cordially wel-
comed and received, and Clement afterwards was
made head of the palace school. Their presence
soon made itself felt in the questioning by the king
of some of the teachings of Alcuin. Letters were
sent to the former teacher at Tours, to which Alcuin
replied, bewailing the fact that the school of the
Egyptians had gained an entrance into David's
glorious palace. " When I went away," he wrote,
" I left the Latins there, and I know not who intro-
duced the Egyptians." Theodulf, who had been

' Mullinger, pp. ii8, 119.

5 Einhard, "Vita Karoli," ch. xvi.

350 The Agx of Charlemagne.

made bishop of Orleans, also inveighed against the
Irish school of theology. The Irish theologian he
calls a lawless thing, a deadly foe, a dull horror,
a malignant pest, one who, though versed in many
subjects, knows nothing as certain and true, and
even any subject of which he is ignorant fancies
himself omniscient/ Charles was not looking for
authority, however, but for truth, and the Irish
school gained and held a place in the palace school
for the greater part of the ninth century. But the
work of Alcuin was not all done nor all forgotten.
Once more he was summoned to a doctrinal contest,
and by his theological learning and undoubted skill
he refuted Felix, bishop of Urgel, and won a brill-
iant triumph over the Adoptianists. He lived to
congratulate Charles on his accession to the im-
perial dignity, and becoming ill in the spring of 804,
in accordance with his strong desire to live until
Pentecost, he died on the morning of that great
festival, May 19th, 804. Mullinger thus sums up
his services : " A sense of the signal service rendered
by Alcuin to his age, in days when learning strove
but feebly and ineffectually amid the clang of arms
and the rude instincts of a semi-barbarous race,
must not lead us to exaggerate his merits or his
powers. On a dispassionate and candid scrutiny,
his views and aims will scarcely appear loftier than
his time. By the side of the imperial conceptions
of Charles, so bold, so original, so comprehensive,
his tame adherence to traditions, his timid mistrust
of pagan learning, dwarf him almost to littleness.
' Migne, vol. cv., p. 322.

Final Estimate of Alcuin. 351

No noble superiority to the superstitions of his age
stamps him like Agobard a master spirit. No hero-
ism of self-devotion like that of a Columbanus or of
a Boniface bears aloft his memory to a rej^ncjn which
detraction cannot reach. He reared no classic
monument of historic genius like that of Einhard,
he penned no stanzas like those of Theodulf,
' Gloria Laus et Honor Tibi,' to waft from century
to century the burden of the Christian hope until
lost in the clamor of the Marseillaise.'

" Yet let us not withhold the tribute that is his
due. He loved the temple of the muses, and was
at once their high priest and their apostle in the
days when the worshippers at their shrines were
few. He upheld the faith with vigor and ability
against its foes, and amid the temptations of a licen-
tious court bore witness to its elevating power with
the eloquent, though unuttered testimony of an up-
right and blameless life. He mediated between the
two greatest princes of the West, and the blessing
promised the peacemakers was his. He watched
with a father's care over a band of illustrious dis-
ciples, who repaid him by a loving obedience while
he lived, and by a faithful adherence to his teach-
ings when he was gone. And when, on the morning
of Pentecost, his spirit passed away, it was felt that
a light had been withdrawn from the church, and
that a wdse teacher of Israel was dead." '

' This hymn, " Gloria," was sung in France on Palm Sunday
each year until the Revolution.
2 MuUinger, pp, 12O, 127.

CHAPTER XXIX.

LARGER DEVELOPMENT UNDER LOUIS THE PIOUS —
THE SCHOLARS OF FULDA — RABANUS MAURUS
AND SERVATUS LUPUS — THE GREAT REFORM-
ERS— AGOBARD OF LYONS AND CLAUDIUS OF
TURIN — PASCHASIUS RADBERTUS AND THE
DOCTRINE OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION — JOHN
SCOTUS ERIGENA — GOTTSCHALK AND THE
PREDESTINATION CONTROVERSY.

HE schools which Charles had founded
multiplied and attained a greater glory
in the reign of his sons and successors.
Milman speaks of the acts of the Coun-
cil of 817 as among the boldest and most
comprehensive ever submitted to a great national
assembly. The rule of Chrodegang was made to
apply to the entire church, and the whole discipline
of monastic life was defined with increasing strict-
ness. Louis the Pious had ordered the translation
of the Scriptures into the Lingua Tcudisca, and the
national dialects of Neustria and Austrasia were
already developing into distinct languages.

Accordingly the episcopal schools became more
prominent and distinct from those of the monas-

352

A Cathedral ScJiool. 353

teries, which began to be attended exclusively by
the monks. These schools were attached to the
cathedrals for boys destined to become priests, and
were confided to the care of one of the canons called
Scholasticus. Mullinger thus describes one : " We
may picture to ourselves a group of lads seated on
the floor, which was strewn with clean straw, their
waxen tablets in their hands, and busily engaged in
writing down the words read by the ' scholasticus '
from his manuscript volume. So rarely did the
pupil in those days gain access to a book that ' to
read ' {legcre) became synonymous with ' to teach.'
The scholars traced the words upon their tablets,
and afterwards, when their notes had been corrected
by the master, transferred them to a little parch-
ment volume, the treasured depository with many
of nearly all the learning they managed to acquire
in life, ' because,' says Rabanus Maurus, ' whatever
the master taught me orally I committed it all to
written pages, lest an uncertain mind should lose

it.'"'

In the ninth century, however, only two centres
of church education in the Prankish territory stood
forth as examples of the higher culture— one at
Orleans, under Theodulf, and the other at Rheims.
The latter, under Hincmar and his successors, claims
the proud distinction of having preserved in this
century that tradition of learning which linked the
episcopal schools with the University of Paris, but

» Me quia qujecumque docuerunt ore magistri ne vaga mens
perdat cSncta^dedi foliis, Migne. vol. cxii., p. 1600; Mullinger,
p. 130.

354 '^^^^ ^^^ ^f Charlemagne.

throughout the ninth century, and, indeed, for the
four centuries preceding the reign of PhiHp Augus-
tus, the work of the episcopal schools was naturally
quite eclipsed by that of the monasteries — Corbie,
St. Riquies, St. Martin of Metz, St. Bertin, Fer-
rieres and others, but Tours already had begun to
decline on account of its wealth.

A capitulary of Louis in 822 shows the same in-
terest in learning that his father had, though sug-
gesting some neglect in the past. It is decreed
that every one in course of training for any position
in the church shall have a fixed place of resort and
a suitable master. Later each bishop was to exer-
cise great diligence in instituting schools, and in
training and educating soldiers for the service of
Christ's church. Louis, it appears, was on the eve
of an undertaking proposed by the bishops, to open
three large public schools in the three most suitable
locations in the empire, when the rebellion of his
sons broke out and civil war ensued.

In the mean time the monastery of Fulda was
rising to importance through one of the greatest
scholars of the century, Rabanus Maurus. He
had been sent as a young man to receive in-
struction from Alcuin at Tours, and speedily be-
came a great favorite. On his return, deeply im-
pressed with the learning and character of his
teacher, he was appointed head of the monastery
school, though only twenty-seven years of age.
In 819 he wrote the celebrated " De Institu-
tionc Clericorum," justly cited as evidence against
exaggerated representations with respect to the

Rabanus Maurus. 355

ignorance of the clergy of those times. He showed
a greater Uberality of sentiment than Alcuin and
Gregory on the subject of pagan Hterature and
secular learning, especially in regard to Dialectic,
of which he says : " This is the study of studies.
It teaches how to teach. It alone knows how to
know, and not only will, but can make men wise.
Wherefore it behooves the clergy to be acquainted
with this noble art." *' Indeed, it would seem,"
says Mullinger, " that the decline of the orthodox
mistrust of Dialectics may be held to date from his
teachings."' His words in regard to philosophy
are of remarkable breadth, and show how he had
already departed from his teacher's precepts. He
held that if any of the schools, and especially the
Platonists, were to be found maintaining doctrines
that harmonized with the Christian faith, instead of
regarding their teaching with mistrust, we should
do well to convert it to our own use. In his com-
mentary on St. Matthew, completed the year he
was elected abbot, he seems to have used only the
Latin fathers and Chrysostom, though he mentions
Origen and the other Greeks. In his explanation
of natural phenomena he was not so inclined to
occult and supernatural origins as was Alcuin. Even
ghosts, spirits, and similar phenomena are referred
to the deception of the senses under the influence
of overwrought mental faculties. In this way he
explains the appearance of Samuel to Saul, as true
not in fact, but with respect to the perception and
the mind of Saul. Though rebuking pagan super-

' Mullinger, p. I44-

356 The Age of Charlemagne.

stitions, many of which still lingered among the
people, he fully shared the superstition of the age
in the veneration of the relics. For his ability as a
teacher he gained a high reputation. Einhard sent
his own son to be educated at Fulda, telling him to
take Rabanus as a model in all things, because thus
instructed he will be wanting in nothing that relates
to the knowledge of life. " I fear, my son," he
wrote, " and I very much suspect that, leaving
home, you may come to forget yourself and to for-
get me also, for inexperienced youth, unless con-
trolled by the check of discipline, proceeds with
difficulty in the ways of righteousness. Endeavor
then, my dear boy, to imitate the best examples.
On no account incur the displeasure of him whom
I have set before you as your model, but, mindful
of your vow, seek to profit by his teaching with the
most diligent application that he whom you have
chosen as your master may approve. Instructed by
his precepts, and accustoming yourself to put them
into practice, you will be wanting in nothing that
pertains to the knowledge of life. As I exhorted
you by word of mouth, be diligent in study, and
fail not to attain whatever of noble learning you
may be able to gain from the most brilliant and
fertile genius of this great orator, but, above all,
remember to imitate the virtues which are his great-
est glory, for grammar, rhetoric, and the other lib-
eral arts are but vain things, and most injurious to
the servants of God, if divine grace does not teach
us that we must ever hold good morals above them
all. Indeed, learning may inspire the heart, but

Distirtguishcd Pupils. 357

chanty edifies it. I should nitlicr know that you
were dead than soiled by pride and vice, for the
Saviour has not asked us to imitate his miracles,
but his gentleness and his humility. What more
shall I say ? These counsels and others like them
you have often heard from my mouth. May you
then be so happy as to love that which procures by
divine grace, purity of soul and of body. Fare-
well." ^

Soon Rabanus himself became the centre of in-
struction for other teachers, adding six monasteries
more to the sixteen already affiliated under his rule
as abbot. Among these six were Corbie, Hersfeld,
Petersburg, and Hirschau. Among his pupils were
Servatus Lupus, Walafrid Strabo, Otfricd of Weis-
senberg, and Rudolph, perhaps the most famous of
them all, who later succeeded Rabanus himself as
teacher of the monastery school, and continued the
annals of Fulda from the point where Einhard left
off, a preacher whose oratory was the special de-
light of Louis the Pious, a scholar notable for his
knowledge of Tacitus — probably from some manu-
scripts that subsequently disappeared — in an age
when that writer was otherwise unknown. There
were also many others. Indeed, one of the biog-
raphers of Rabanus asserts that wherever, whether
in peace or in war, in church or in state, a promi-
nent actor appears at this period, we may predict
almost certainly that he will prove to have been a
scholar of this great teacher."

' Jaffe, vol. iv., pp. 477. 47S ; Einhardi, Ep. 56.
' Spengler ; quoted by Mullinger, p. 153.

358 The Age of Charlemagne.

Another scholar of Fulda, associated with Ser-
vatus Lupus, was Probus, whom the annals of Fulda
describe as " the religious presbyter whose saintly
learning and pure conversation made Fulda yet
more illustrious." ' Servatus Lupus says of him
that " he would admit Cicero, Virgil, and other
noble men among the ancients, to the number of
the elect, that the blood of Christ might not be
shed in vain, and that the prophecy might be ful-
filled. ' I will be thy death, O Death ! and I will
be thy sting, O Grave t ' " '^ Indeed, they must
have appreciated the beautiful language, the elo-
quent style, and the noble thought of these classical
masters after what they had been through. No
wonder they welcomed them back with sincere de-
light and crowned them once more kings of learn-
ing and saints of literature.

In the civil strifes and domestic feuds in which
son rose against father and brother against brother,
Rabanus still remained loyal to Louis, and after his
death to Lothair, who received the imperial title.
After the battle of Fontenay, in 841, he resigned
his abbacy and retired to Petersburg. He had
great respect and regard for Lewis the German,
however, " and his testimony to the high character
of the king is, perhaps, the least open to suspicion
of all the tributes to the moral virtues of the best
of the sons of Louis the Pious, his reputation being
such as to render him superior to mere political

' " Ann. Fuld.," an. 859 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 373.

' Serv. Lup., Ep. 20 ; quoted by Neander, vol. iii., p. 602,

Influence of Bishops and Abbots,

359

considerations." In 847, at the age of seventy-one,
he was elected to the bishopric of Mainz, an office
which involved the spiritual supervision of all Ger-
many, except the diocese of Cologne. This office
he held until his death, in 856.

The position of the episcopate at this time was one
of great importance. The civil power was weakened
and divided, and the maintenance of law and order de-
pended almost entirely upon the officers of the church.
The influence and the authority of the bishops in sec-
ular, as well as in ecclesiastical affairs, was well-nigh
supreme. In the decay of the royal power, the rise of
feudalism and the encroachment of the papacy, the
power of the bishops looms up in a significant and de-
cisive manner, and the number of great names shows
the intellectual and administrative ability with
which the leading positions were filled. Such men
as Theodulf, Agobard, Rabanus Maurus, and Hinc-
mar exercised an influence in guiding opinions and
controlling events far beyond that exercised by any
layman of the time. An extract from one of the
chief ministers of Charles the Bald illustrates the
influence of prominent ecclesiastics in affairs of
state. " But yet," he says, " they refer the mat-
ter, as is customary, to the bishops and priests, so
that in whatever way the divine authority may
please to settle it according to his will, they may
assent with a free and ready mind." ' Thus, as we
have seen, the influence at Fulda was broader and
more inspiring than that at Tours. Servatus Lupus
had been sent to Ferrieres, but in 830 went to Fulda,
* Mullinger. p. 15C. '^ Nithardus, iv., 3 ; M. G. SS., vol. ii., p. 669.

360 The Age of Charlemag

ne.

where he remained for a short time, and then re-
turned to Ferrieres as instructor in grammar and
rhetoric.

Many changes were brought about by the treaty
of Verdun, in the intellectual as \vell as in the politi-
cal world, and further changes were made in conse-
quence of the pronounced sympathies of these great
teachers. However, the bond uniting them to-
gether remained unbroken, for their interests were
unaffected by the political machinations and dififi-
culties of the time. Like the bonds of scholarship
and of commerce to-day, they were above mere
party lines and sectional interests. Under Charles
the Bald, the ruler of the Western Kingdom, the
intellectual life received great encouragement and
support. In his tastes and methods he was more
like his grandfather. He v/as a keen theologian,
fond of argument and debate, but the times were
very evil. It is true, the shock of civil discord had
largely passed away, but the invasions of the North-
men brought woe and destruction to many of the
fairest seats of learning. " All the monasteries and
places along the Seine were either depopulated or
left terrified after having given up much of their
Avealth." ' Indeed, unlike the previous invasions,
churches and monasteries seem to have been the
chief objects of attack. Their defenceless condi-
tion and the large amount of wealth which they
had acquired served to invite the greed of the bar-
barous and savage Northmen. Their ravages began
about 840, and for more than half a century they
> " Prud. Tree. Ann.," an. 841 ; M. G. SS., vol. 1., p. 437.

Servatus Lupus. 36

were the terror of Southern Europe. Coastinj^
along the shores of the sea, they made frequent
expeditions up each river as far as navigable, and
thus were enabled to penetrate with their destroy-
ing zeal far into the interior. Gaul, Spain, and the
district lying along the Mediterranean between
Spain and Italy suffered in this way. At last, how-
ever, the monasteries themselves became centres of
organized resistance ; abbots and monks alike were
forced to bear arms, and monasteries were bound to
furnish men and money to the State. In the midst
of these invasions the nobles revived the confiscating
policy of Charles Martel, and although Charles the
Bald was a great friend to the church, he was power-
less to resist the growing power of the nobles.

In all these dangers and difificulties Servatus
Lupus was one of the foremost advisers of the king,
not only in regard to ecclesiastical affairs, but in
questions of State policy as well. In 847 he went
with Charles to Marsua, to settle terms with Lothair
and Lewis. In 849 he represented Charles at Rome
and at Bourges in the matter of the heresy of Gott-
schalk. In 858 he was again prominent in the nego-
tiations with Lewis. But although so high in influ-
ence and position, he was unable to obtain simple
justice for his own monastery, showing the strength
of the opposition on the part of the feudal nobles.
His literary correspondence gives a clear picture of
the scholar's life.' Nearly every classical writer
known or studied in his time was quoted or referred
to in his letters — Livy, Sallust, Caisar, Suetonius,
^ Nicholas, " Etude sur les lettres de Servat-Loup. "

362 The Age of Charlemagne.

Cicero, Quintilian, Virgil, Horace, Terence, Mar-
tial, Macrobius, and Priscian, and the usual text-
books of his time. His letters also reveal much re-
garding the methods and difficulties of literary
work. Books and manuscripts were borrowed and
loaned, sent from one monastery to another for
copying ; but often where the willingness existed
the difficulties in the way were great.

We are informed that a volume of Bede would
not be loaned to Hincmar, because it was too large
to hide in the coat or wallet, and the bearer might
fall in with a band of robbers, who, tempted by the
beauty of the manuscript, would seize and carry it
off. Even within the monastery books were not
always safe. " If you knew the situation of our
monastery," Servatus writes to the abbot of Tours,
** you would not have thought of entrusting your
treasure to our keeping, I will not say for long, but
even for three days, for though access hither may
not appear easy for these pirates, yet the monastery
is so little protected by its situation, and we have
so few men capable of opposing them, that it is
itself a temptation to their greed." ' His higher
intellectual activity, and his intimate knowledge of
the wider views of the classical writers, gave him a
strong distaste for unprofitable theological specula-
tion. Altogether he appears as one of the most
scholarly men of the ninth century, and is a good
example of the highest and best influences of classi-
cal learning upon the intellectual life of the time.
He was held in great esteem, and died in 862.

' Serv. Lup., Ep. no; quoted by MulHnger, p. 169.

Agobard and C/aiidiiis. 363

Two noted Spaniards also showed great intellec-
tual ability and freedom of thought in this century.
Agobard, archbishop of Lyons from 816 until his
death, in 840, revised the liturgy in the interest of
pure doctrine and of scriptural expression. He
wrote against image worship and superstition, and
even proposed to substitute rational investigation
for the heathen methods of trial by combat and by
ordeals, which were still retained under a Christian
form. Claudius, bishop of Turin from 814 until his
death, in 839, was an even bolder reformer, and op-
posed most vigorously the growing materialism
showing itself in the doctrines of images and of the
Eucharist. He opposed pilgrimages to Rome and
the growing power of the papacy. He laid the
foundations of modern Protestantism in his doctrine
of grace and of justification. "It is certain that
from this moment there would be always some-
where in the church a protest against the tendency
to materialize Christianity." '

One of the most significant controversies of this
century was brought out by a treatise by Paschasius
Radbertus, a monk, and from 844 to 851 the abbot
of Corbie. It was entitled " On the Sacrament of
the Body and Blood of Christ," was written in 831,
and soon after 844 sent to Charles the Bald in a
popular form that he might favor its spread. It is
important as being the first formal statement of
Transubstantiation, declaring " that by virtue of the
consecration, by a miracle of almighty power, the
substance of the bread and wine became converted

' Ampere, vol. iii., p. SS.

364 The Age of Charle?nagiie.

into the substance of the body and blood of Christ,
so that beneath the sensible, outward emblems of the
bread and wine another substance was still present. " *

Highly figurative language in reference to the
presence of Christ in the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper had been employed from very early times,
and there was a strong tendency in a literal age to
convert the symbolical and metaphorical language
into a mechanical theory. But the church had been
kept from a definite formulation of such a miscon-
ception by the spiritual ideas, clear thought, and
decisive language of Augustine.'^

The treatise of Paschasius, therefore, created at
once a profound sensation. Charles the Bald re-
ferred it to Ratramnus (Bertram), another monk of
Corbie, for his consideration and reply. The answer
was a clear, firm, and at the same time devout and
scriptural denial of the doctrine. He affirmed
Christ's presence in the sacrament, not in substance,
but in spirit and influence, " spiritualiter et secundam
potcntiam,'" in a work still read in English.^

The view of Paschasius was also condemned by
Rabanus Maurus, John Scotus, and Florus of
Lyons. ** Still the mystical and apparently pious
doctrine, which was easier of apprehension and
seemed to correspond better to the sacred words,
obtained its advocates, too, and it was easy to see

' Neander, vol. iii,, p. 495.

' Epistle to Boniface, No. 98, ch. ix. ; " Nicene Fathers," first
series, vol. i., pp. 409, 410. See also Gieseler, vol. i., p. 435,
note 15.

8 Bertram, "On the Body and Blood of Christ." See Neander,
vol. iii., pp. 494-501.

Transtibstantiation. 365

that it only needed times of darkness, such as soon
followed, to become general. In the same spirit
Radbert also taught a miraculous delivery of
Mary, but here, again, he was opposed by Ratram-
nus. " '

But the tendency of the age was too strong to be
resisted. '' The dogma was not forced upon the
understanding from without, but was demanded by
it," and was due rather to " the restless eagerness
of a logical age." "

The great evil was not in the doctrine of transub-
stantiation ; that did represent, however imper-
fectly, a reality, the presence of Christ in his church
and in the faithful Christian ; but the evil lay in the
doctrine which a later and more corrupt age deduced
from it — namely, the sacrifice of the mass, on which
the tremendous power of the priesthood of the
Middle Ages rested— that a man could create the
body and blood of Christ, and by his own act offer
to God the propitiatory sacrifice which Christ in his
own body on the cross had offered once for all for
the sins of the whole world.

In the midst of the intellectual life and learning
of the ninth century a new light appears— startling,
brilliant, keen, and irresistible, like a comet amid
the stars, or lightning in a clear sky. We lose all
sight of Clement of Ireland, and know little of the
Irish school after the time of Charles the Great.
It had received little encouragement from Louis the
Pious, but a new impulse came under Charles the
Bald, at whose court appeared the intellectual won-
1 Gieseler, vol. ii., pp. 83, 84. ' Maurice, vol. i., p. 464.

366 The Age of Charlemagne.

der of his age, John Scotus Erigena. He forms the
connecting Hnk between the traditions of the past
and the later scholastic philosophy, of which he has
been regarded as the real inaugurator. With far
greater boldness than Rabanus he employed the art
of dialectic and carried speculation to its utmost
limit. He was born in the first or second decade
of the ninth century, educated probably in Irish
monasteries, as is shown by his Greek learning and
his Celtic sympathies, but the only trustworthy in-
formation regarding him concerns his life at the
court of Charles the Bald, where he appeared about
845. His favorite manual was the much mistrusted
treatise of Martianus Capella, and he was well versed
in the Greek fathers, especially In Origen, who was
no less an object of suspicion by the church. In-
deed, the Greek fathers were his constant study,
and the Greek methods of thought and points of
view were his own. He at once established a close
and sympathetic intimacy with Charles the Bald,
whose mind naturally tended towards philosophical
subtleties. Charles the Bald did for philosophy
what his grandfather, Charles the Great, did for
theology. His father, Louis the Pious, had been
fond of the mysteries of scriptural interpretation,
and mistrusted all that savored of speculation or
showed a new and untraditional line of thought, but
Charles was the patron of all schools and of all par-
ties, and the most liberal benefactor of learning in
his age. The very name of his palace was " The
School." In his reign Irish scholars flooded the
Western Kingdom. Fond of travel, of adventure,

John Scot us Erigena. 367

and of change, they appreciated the welcome which
they received at his court.

The learning of Erigcna was fully appreciated by
the king. He was selected to translate the Pseudo-
Dionysius, a work on the Celestial Hierarchies, sup-
posed to have been written by Dionysius the Areop-
agite, who was confused with Dionysius, the bishop
of Paris, or St. Denis, the patron saint of I'rancc.
A copy of this work in Greek had been sent by the
Emperor Michael to Louis the Pious in 827.' The
translation was well done, and Erigena showed a
fairly correct and at times elegant Latin style. He
also compiled a commentary on Martianus Capella,
" from whom," says Prudentius of Troyes, " he
had imbibed a deadly poison," which seems to have
been shown in his putting of reason above author-
ity, and using dialectic rather than tradition in the
investigation of truth. Perhaps the most marked
influences upon him were exerted by the Tima^us
of Plato and the Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hier-
archies attributed to Dionysius. His great work
was the " De Divisione Natur.ne," in five books.
He posited as a fundamental principle that true
theology and true philosophy are only formally
different, but essentially identical. The truth is
expressed in Scripture and in ecclesiastical dogma,
as in a shell, accommodated to man's understanding
by figurative and metaphorical phrases. Reason
strips off this shell and outer covering, and by
means of dialectic or speculation raises faith to
knowledge. His system took on a pantheistic col-
> Gieseler, vol. ii., p. 103, notes 14 and 15.

68 The Age of Charlemagne,

oring, but he maintained that he was endeavoring
to affirm Christian theism. God himself, the Ab-
solute, is supersubstantial above all the categories
of existence. The reason of man can see, therefore,
only the manifestations of God, not God himself.
God is created in things ; he realizes himself in what
he produces, as our intelligence in our thoughts.
All things return to him. and find in him their final
end. Evil is not positive nor eternal, it exists, but
as a lack, a negation which must pass away when
all is realized and attains perfection. In him are
the germs of the whole later contradictions of scho-
lastic and mystic.^

He was hardly noticed in his own age, although
Maurice calls him '* the metaphysician of the ninth
century ; one of the acutest metaphysicians of any
century." As Allen says : " John Scotus only con-
fused and puzzled his age ; he seemed to be ortho-
dox, but in a fashion hardly available for practical
purposes. What could such an age as his do with
a man who talked about evil as a negation, as hav-
ing no real existence, or who defined predestination
as the consciousness of achieving one's destiny?
At a later time, the justice which he failed to re-
ceive in his lifetime was meted out to him, and he
was condemned as a heretic." ^

He v/as selected, however, by Hincmar to under-
take the refutation of Gottschalk in the famous con-
troversy about predestination. Gottschalk had
shown a restlessness and uneasiness in the monas-

' Maurice, vol. i., pp. 467-501 ; Ampere, vol. iii., pp. 123-146.
' Allen, pp. 190, 191,

Gottschalk. 369

tcry of Fulda, in which he had been placed by his
Saxon parents while he was yet a child. At last a
dispensation was granted by the Synod of ?.Iainz,
Gottschalk having pleaded compidsion, and the
plea being held valid on the ground that a Saxon
could thus forfeit his freedom only when the cere-
mony had been attested by a witness of the same
nationality. Rabanus Maurus, the abbot of Fulda,
appealed from this decision, and it was reversed by
the Emperor Louis, and Gottschalk was allowed
only a transfer to another monastery. Accordingly
he left Fulda and entered the monastery of Orbais
in the diocese of Soissons. Here he began the study
of Augustine and Fulgentius and the other fathers
of his school. He became an ardent advocate of
the doctrine of predestination, and began writing
letters on the subject to his friends and former com-
panions. The doctrine of unconditional predestina-
tion was asserted in the strongest terms, based on
the immutability of God and his absolute wisdom
and power. Consequently the destiny of man could
not depend on his own conduct, nor be in suspense
until death. Men were not only chosen or predes-
tined to salvation, but also to everlasting punish-
ment, for the unchangeableness of the divine decree
required this double predestination, and with God
foreknowledge and foreordination must be identi-
cal. This not only denied the freedom of the will
from the first act of man to the last, but also gave
no scope for the agency or ministration of the
church, whose rights and services could have no
avail in the salvation of the soul ordained to perdi-

X

370 The Age of Charlemagne.

tion. In reality the church system was semi-Pelagian,
and must have been in order to give scope for its
operations. It is a fact familiar to the students of
church history that fatalism in theology has gener-
ally been the creed of those who have rebelled most
stubbornly against ecclesiastic tyranny. But God's
service is freedom ; fatalism in this regard takes one
out of man's hands into God's hands, and such a
theory has always been the inspiration of indepen-
dent and daring conduct. It is the very foundation-
stone of Mahometanism, and was the inspiring prin-
ciple of the Pilgrim Fathers.

Rabanus Maurus was not friendly to Gottschalk ;
opposed him in a treatise published in 840, and pur-
sued him relentlessly. Gottschalk appealed in per-
son to Mainz, but was condemned, scourged, and
handed over to Hincmar. Few will be disposed to
call in question the comment of Diimmler, that it
was a harsh and unrighteous sentence, and leaves
a stain on the reputation of Rabanus. Treated as
badly by Hincmar in the West — condemned, de-
graded from his order, and scourged — Gottschalk
was consigned to perpetual imprisonment in the
monastery of Hautvilliers. Persecutions began to
take the place of argument in theological discus-
sions. At this time, however, the sympathy of
many was aroused, and a movement in his favor set
in. Ratramnus took his side, Prudentius of Troyes,
Amola and Remigius of Lyons, with Florus, a
presbyter of Lyons, and Servatus- Lupus. Hinc-
mar was now at a disadvantage, not having much
ability in theological speculation.

opposed by John Scotia

0/

It was at this point that Jolin Scotus Eri^^cna
was called in. In this discussion he shows the
strong influence of the Tima^us and the Pseudo-Dio-
nysian writings. No irresistible omnipresent pur-
pose working from all eternity is to be found in
theTimcXus, and the purely negative character of evil
is set forth in the Pseudo-Uionysius. These ideas
John Scotus also took up, making an extended use
of dialectic. He first laid down the principle that
philosophy and religion can never be at variance ;
secondly, he reproduces, as MuUinger has so inter-
estingly pointed out, the passage from Rabanus, in
which he speaks of the value of dialectic to the de-
fender of the faith, and that it ought not to be left
to the opponent.' This prominent use of dialectic
roused opposition, and the unpopularity of Ilinc-
mar, together with the sympathy expressed for
Gottschalk, but especially the peculiar ideas ad-
vanced by John Scotus, drew much attention to
the case. John appealed to the Greek fathers and
philosophers, and referred particularly to Martianus
Capella. The hostility to Hincmar from Lyons was
partly due to the rivalry of the two great ecclesias-
tical centres, Rheims and Lyons. The position is
illustrated most clearly in Prudentius. Rarely arc
the dogmatist, as seen in Prudentius, and the ration-
alist, as seen in John Scotus, to be found in stronger
contrast. Prudentius said he detected in John the
Pelagian treachery, the folly of Origen and the mad-
ness of the Collyrian^ heresy. He says that John

1 Mullintrer. p. 1S5, note i. , , u

» Probably Ihe Collyridians. A sect in tli. fourth cr-niury who

J/

The Age of Charlemagne.

Scotus reminds him very forcibly of Pelagius, and
he speaks of " that Capella of yours*' as the source
of many of his errors. In spite of the great names
and strong feeHng connected with this controversy,
one cannot estimate the Hterature very highly.
The main points at issue, the fundamental princi-
ples, were grasped by none of the disputants except,
perhaps, by John Scotus Erigena, and by him in
such a way that they would be still more thoroughly
concealed from every one else. The dispute was
one of words, or rather one of personal feeling and
rivalry. The decisions were indefinite, and, as
Mozley says : ** There is nothing in the language
of Kiersy to which the most rigid predestinarian
would not subscribe." As it was, the chief decision
was reversed at Valence in 855, and the views ad-
vanced by John Scotus were condemned. Ampere
says of John Scotus in relation to Hincmar : " A
very convenient ally, but quite a dangerous one,
whose assistance had only served to compromise."
" Mere learning and skill," says Mullinger, ** could
not atone for the evident laxity of doctrine of the
brilliant Irishman." ' Of the last of his life little or
nothing is known. It is conjectured, however, that
he remained at the Frankish Court, and continued
to be one of the chief ornaments of the palace
school, though William of Malmesbury says that he
went to England, taught at Oxford, and died as

seem to have transferred the ceremonial of the worship of Ceres
to that of the Virgin Mary.
' Mullinger, p. 189.

Continuation to the Eleventh Century, i^-i^

abbot of Malmesbury, bcini^ puL to death by his
own pupils in 891.

The invasions of the Northmen were less fatal
on the Continent than in En[;land. The tradi-
tions which after the time of Alfred the Great
are no longer to be discerned in England may
plainly be traced in France. Indeed, the influence
of John Scotus is of that vaguer and more general
kind which is felt rather than seen, but from Raba-
nus we may perceive the handing down of the un-
mistakable and unbroken tradition.

Eric of Auxerre, the pupil of both Rabanus and
Servatus Lupus, continued the intellectual line, and
Auxerre became one of the chief centres of learn-
ing. Among Eric's pupils was Remi of Auxerre,
who taught at Rheims and Paris. At Rheims were
also to be found Rcminghad, Hildebald, and Blidul-
fus, the founders of the school in Lotharingia, and
Sigulfus and Frodoard, who carried on the school
at Rheims and prepared the way for Gerbert. At
Paris Eric had for his pupil Odo of Cluny, a monk
from St. Martin of Tours. In the foundation of
Cluny, in 910, Odo became a famous teacher, and
revived the Benedictine rule and cultivation of let-
ters. He raised Cluny to the very highest position
in learning and ecclesiastical order, famous for its
scholars in the tenth century, among whom were
Aymer, Baldwin, Gottfried, and others, and in the
eleventh century Gregory VI., Hildebrand, and the
popes of the restoration.

CHAPTER XXX.

ACCESSION OF LOUIS THE PIOUS — WEAKNESS OF
THE IMPERIAL UNITY — RELATIONS WITH THE
PAPACY — REGULATION OF THE EMPIRE — IN-
TRODUCTION OF PRIMOGENITURE — HUMILIA-
TION OF LOUIS.

HE unity which Charles had built up and
left to his only son Louis lasted through
the period of the latter's reign, but the
forces of disunion were present and
growing all the time. We have noted
many of them already, and have seen how strong
they were, for in spite of the underlying race unity
of the German people, there were between the vari-
ous tribes which had come to make up the empire
vast differences which seemed to offer well-nigh
irresistible obstacles to any real union. There were
differences in training and in civilization, some
tribes being almost completely Romanized, others
which first learned of Roman institutions through
their submission to Charles, and many with memories
of an earlier independence of a tribal, if not national
political unity. There were differences in laws and
customs, few, if any, having a written code of for-
mal laws, but each having a mass of traditions, cus-

374

Obstacles to Unity.

O/O

toms and usages, more or less peculiar to itself.
There were differences In climatic and ^Geographical
conditions with all that these implied. There were
also the outlying foes threatening the empire at
every point ; the unconquered, unconverted Danes
and other Northmen, ready with their wandering
bands and pirate ships to attack and devastate the
northern boundaries and the western coasts, the
barbarian savage Slavs and other Turanian hordes
threatening continually the whole eastern frontier,
and there were the fierce and fanatical Saracens in
Spain and along the African shores of the Mediter-
ranean as a constant menace on the South. Nor
were these imaginary dangers, for as an actual fact
the invasions and ravages from all these directions
began before the middle of the ninth century ; nay,
some even In the reign of Louis himself, and con-
tinued with increasing vigor and destructiveness
until after the middle of the tenth century,' thus
making the tenth century the dark ^^q par excellence,
the sceculuin obsctcriim of the Middle Ages. Further-
more, the elements of feudalism forming, as we have
seen, during the period of the weak or almost non-
existing central system preceding the Carolingian
monarchy, although having for an object the afford-
ing of that protection to property, to rights, and to
life, which the central authority was not strong
enough to give, became more and more strength-

* The first definite attack of the Northmen took place in the
sack and burning of Rouen in 840, their final settlement taking
place in Normandy in 911 ; the final victory over the Huns \yas
gained by Otto I. in 955 ; while the Saracens began by making
themselves masters of Sicily in 837.

2,'j6 The Age of Charlemagne.

ened, established, and organized, exercised an un-
dermining influence, and were a constant menace
and obstacle to any central authority. Charles, it
has been seen, recognized these elements, and not
being able to banish them, used them for his pur-
poses, but he had neither conquered nor thoroughly
subordinated them. The institution, if such it may
be called, grew stronger and more completely organ-
ized, until it became the rival, and for a time the suc-
cessful rival of the empire and the monarchy, which
really had to pass through and develop out of it.

As if all this were not enough, there was in the
very imperial power itself, as it existed in its Ger-
manic form, the root principle of its own weakness.
This was the Teutonic theory of the inheritance of
kingly power. Again and again the unity of the
Merovingian monarchy had been broken up by this
principle of equal division among the sons of the
king. The Carolingian mayors of the palace had
been able to re-establish a unity which the Carolin-
gian kings, Pippin and Charles the Great, had been
able to maintain by fortunate conditions which they
did not make. Pippin's oldest brother, Karlmann,
had retired to a monastery, voluntarily we are led
to believe, but very fortunately for Pippin, within
six years after the two brothers had received from
their father, Charles Martel, the power which he
divided between them. Three years after a divided
monarchy had been inherited by Pippin's sons,
Charles and Karlmann, Karlmann had died most'
opportunely, and Charles, receiving the allegiance
of his brother's subjects, found himself reigning

Signs of Disintegration. 2>77

alone. On that foundation he had built up a united
empire, but its strength and unity existed in his
own person ; his force, his abiHty, his character,
and the fear and reverence for his name energized
the form which he had constructed.

The only outside influence for the establishment
and continuance of unity, and it was a very strong
one, rested in the organization of the church. Karl-
mann and Pippin, under the guidance of Boniface,
and Charles himself, under the inspiration of the
pope and of his own theories and conceptions, had
done their best to make this influence effective by
the strong ecclesiastical organization, with its hier-
archy of presbyters, bishops, metropolitans, and
provincial and general assemblies, which they had
established in the kingdom, and which had been still
further emphasized and unified by the pre-eminence
and superiority accorded to the papacy as the great
head and central power of the church. Political in-
stitutions sometimes gain a strength which they still
retain even after they have passed into weaker hands,
but such could not be the case with the empire of
Charles : the foundation was neither deep enough,
nor strong enough, nor complete enough ; it had
been in existence for too short a time, and the
materials out of which it was created were too hetero-
geneous. It is a question whether Charles himself
really hoped or expected his empire to remain.
Like his predecessors, he thought only of the equal
division among his sons, and, as we have noted in
the division he proposed in 806, no reference was
made to the imperial power which he regarded as

378 The Age of Charlemagne.

not to be considered in such a division or as some-
thing personal to himself. Once, again, circum-
stances over which he had no control conspired to
make possible the longer continuance of imperial
unity. Two of his three legitimate sons having
died, Louis alone was left to receive the undivided
inheritance from his father. Bernhard, however,
the son of Pippin of Italy, who died in 8io, had
received his father's share in Italy in 812 from the
hands of Charles himself.'

Louis, on the other hand, started out with a new
policy, undoubtedly suggested by the pope, and
one with which we ourselves cannot fail to sympa-
thize. The chief difficulty was that he began too
soon. He determined to preserve the unity of the
imperial power, and to hand it on unbroken and
undivided to one of his sons, and to give to the
other two — for he had three sons, Lothair, Pippin,
and Louis'^ — kingdoms which they might hold in
mutual dependence on their older brother. He
thus departed from the old German custom of co-
equal division, and introduced the rule of primo-
geniture, the exclusive right of the firstborn. This,
a peculiar and essential characteristic of feudalism,
shows the influence that feudal principles already
had gained. The results of this attempt will appear
as the history proceeds.

Louis was in Aquitania, and did not reach Aix-la-
Chapelle until a month after his father's death.
With the unanimous consent of all the Franks he

J Einhard, " Vita Karoli," ch. xix.

'^ Louis, the German, sometimes called Ludwig.

Zeal of Louis. 379

ascended the throne, and at once took up the affairs
of State. An important assembly was held in
August of this same year. With commendable zeal
he at once dispatched niissi to all parts of the em-
pire to establish his authority, to administer justice
and to remedy abuses. He summoned to him his
nephew Bernhard, king of Italy, to receive his fealty,
and sent him back laden with gifts, and assured of
imperial favor and support. To his sons, Lothair
and Pippin, he gave kingdoms as his father had
given to him and his brothers. Lothair he estab-
lished in Bavaria and Pippin in Aquitania. His
third son, Louis, was too young to receive any ap-
pointment.^ Ambassadors and deputations, sent
from many different peoples, were received and dis-
missed. A new emperor, Leo V., having succeeded
to the throne of Constantinople in 813, and having
despatched ambassadors to the court of the Franks,
an alliance was made with him. In the North, Louis
took up the defence of Harold, the exiled king of
the Danes, and the Saxons and other Northern
tribes were ordered to make a campaign against the
Danes in his support. Louis had gone further, and
had undertaken to reform the morals of the court,'
which had been far from pure during the reign of
Charles,' but in so doing he had removed the chief
friends and advisers of his father, thus permitting
the beginning of an opposition party. At the head
of this party were Adalhard, abbot of Corbie, and

1 "Einhardi Ann.," an. 814; M. G. .SS., vol i.. p. 201.

2 Borctius, vol. i., pp. 297, 298; "Cup. tie Discip. Pahii.
Aquis."

« Einhard, "Vita,"c. xviii.

o

80 TJie Age of Charlemagne.

his brother, Count Wala, cousins of Charles and
grandsons of Charles Martel, their father being Bern-
hard, Charles' uncle. Three of the illegitimate
sons of Charles — Drogo, Hugo, and Theoderic — and
the five sisters of Louis were induced to take up
the monastic life, the favorite resort for dethroned
sovereigns, royal rivals still dangerous, or persons
whose presence might be disagreeable.

The relations of Louis with the pope did not be-
gin auspiciously. The Romans, followers, proba-
bly, of the leaders in the revolt of 799, had taken
advantage of the death of Charles and the removal
of imperial protection to rise against Leo, and their
conspiracy having been discovered, the pope him-
self seized and publicly put to death all of the prin-
cipal offenders. When this was reported to Louis
he was highly indignant.^ The pope had acted
with a passion and severity unworthy of him and of
his high ofBce, and had also infringed upon the im-
perial rights. Louis at once settled the affairs of
Harold and of the Slavs, returned to his palace at
Frankfort, and sent his nephew, Bernhard of Italy,
who had been aiding him in his Northern campaign,
to Rome to make an investigation. Bernhard was
taken ill soon after his arrival, but sent back word
to the emperor by Count Ceroid, informing him of
all he had learned of the affair. Ceroid was followed
by three papal legates sent to explain and to justify
the pope's position and acts. In consequence of
the shock and anxiety, the pope, who was now an
old man, fell seriously ill. His enemies, now thor-

' " Einhardi Ann.," an. 815 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 202.

The Papal Visit and Coronal ion. 381

oughly enraged, taking advantage of his illness, rose
against him, pillaged and bnrned the farms he had
established in the papal territories, and resolved to
march to Rome to compel him to restore their con-
fiscated property. Bernhard immediately de-
spatched a force under Winnigis, duke of Spoleto,
against them, and put down the uprising, reporting
the afTair to the emperor. On June 12th of the fol-
lowing year, 816, Pope Leo died, and on the 22d
Stephen V. was consecrated as his successor. The
tumults and factions in Rome probably furnished
the reason for such haste, and for not waiting for
the imperial confirmation, a right which seems to
have been unquestioned at this time. However,
Stephen exacted from the Romans the oath of
fealty to the emperor, and two months later he set
out to visit Louis, having sent two legates to an-
nounce his consecration, and to inform the emperor
of his intended visit.

The attitude of Louis to the bishop was as yet
unknown. He was in a different position from that
which Charles had occupied, having received his
title and authority by inheritance, and having been
crowned without the intervention of the pope or
the presence of any papal legate. Louis at once
set out to receive the pope at Rheims, and sent
forward to meet him Theodulf, bishop of Orleans,
John, the archbishop of Aries, and the archchaplain,
Hildebald, archbishop of Cologne. The pope, ac-
companied by King Bernhard, arrived at Rheims
in October. Louis met him a mile from the cathe-
dral, and threw himself at his feet. The pope an^

382 The Age of CJiarlemagne.

noLinced the reasons for his journey, the explanation
of his position at Rome, the needs of the church,
and his desire for the renewal of the compact of
friendship and of support between emperor and pope.

Gifts and courtesies were exchanged for three
days, with frequent conferences regarding the re-
lations of state and church, and proposed legisla-
tion on the subject. The fourth day being Sunday,
after celebrating mass the pope crowned Louis and
the empress, Irmingard, having brought an imperial
crown for the purpose from Rome. Louis, how-
ever, already had spoken of himself as the '* Em-
peror Augustus by the ordinance of divine provi-
dence," ' and it is doubtful if this coronation was
regarded by him as anything more than his recog-
nition by the church, and the sign and seal of the
bond of union between the two. Yet in a capitulary
of November, 816, issued just after the papal corona-
tion, he says : *' Crowned by divine will, ruling the
Rome Empire," '" after which, however, he reverts
to the earlier form.

Stephen returned to Rome, where, possibly in
fulfilment of the requirement made of him at this
time, he assembled a synod and issued a decretal or-
daining that in future the popes should be elected
by the cardinal bishops and the Roman clergy, in
the presence of the Roman Senate and people, but
that their consecration should take place in the
presence of the imperial ambassadors.^ At the

' Borctius, vol. i., p. 261, " Constitutio prima," a.d. 815.
'■' Ibid., vol. i., p. 267, "Cap. legi add."

^ Lea, p. 42, referring to Gratian Pecret , Dist. 63, Can. 28 ; KV
zog, vQl. ii.,p. 255.

TJic Donation of Loiu's. 38

0"v)

same time the emperor held a council at his pahice
in Compiegne with his bishops, abbots, and counts,
in which were drawn up capituhiries setting forth
the duel for the laity and the judgment of the cross
for ecclesiastics, in order to settle, cases when wit-
nesses were hopelessly contradictory.'

Stephen having died January 24th, 817, shortly
after his return from the coronation of Louis,
Paschal I. was unanimously elected and consecrated
on the very next day. He at once sent presents to
the emperor with a letter of excuse, in which he
represented that the honor of the pontificate had
been thrust upon him, not only in the face of his
refusal, but in spite of all his efforts to resist it.
He also sent an embassy to beg the emperor to
ratify and confirm the alliance made with his pred-
ecessors, a request which the emperor granted.'
At this time also Louis is said to have confirmed to
the pope and to his successors the city of Rome
with its duchy, the cities of Tuscany and Campagna,
the exarchate of Ravenna, and the Pentapolis,
which had been originally restored by his grand-
father, Pippin, and his father, Charles ; the district
of Sabina, as originally presented by his father,
Charles ; places in Lombard Tuscany, the islands
of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, the patrimony in
Benevento, Salerno, Calabria, and Naples, grant-
ing also the free canonical election of the pope.
Regarding this donation Lea very justly remarks :
** He took care to reserve to himself the sovereignty

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 268, " Cap. legi add.," ch. i.

5 " Einhardi Ann.," an. 817 ; M.G. SS., vol. i., pp. 203, 204.

384 The Age of Charlemagne.

of the territories whose usufruct he bestowed on
St. Peter, by the clause, ' Saving in all things our
dominion over the said duchies and their subjection
to us.' This clause and a succeeding one, by which
the emperor reserves the right of interference in
case of tyranny and oppression, dispose me strongly
to regard the document as genuine. The abnega-
tion of the right to control the papal elections is
probably an interpolation of a later period, as also
the extensive donations of territory in Central and
Southern Italy, which either was retained by the
Carolingian emperors or else never belonged to
them."^

The general assembly for the year 817 was held
in July at Aix-la-Chapelle, and here Louis carried
out what had probably been his part of the arrange-
ments arrived at in the conference with Stephen V.
in the previous year. The entire German principle
of inheritance was radically changed, that of primo-
geniture being adopted in its place, and from this
may be traced the beginning of the civil strife and
discord which filled the rest of the period, and re-
sulted in the final division of the empire in the
treaty of Verdun, in 843, leaving the title of em-
peror a merely nominal one. For at this assembly
Lothair, the oldest son, was crowned by Louis, and
associated with him in the title and dignity of em-
peror,' each of the two other sons receiving only the
title of ** l<ing" and a limited territory. The ar-
rangement established for this inheritance of the

' Lea, pp. 165, 166 and note i ; Boehmer, vol. i., pp. 241, 242.
' Jaffe, vol. iv., p. 445 ; Einhardi, Ep. 7.

'The Regulation of the Jiffipire.'' 385

power and possessions of Louis is set forth in the
document " The Regulation of the Empire," though
sometimes erroneously called the " Division of the
Empire." " It has not seemed wise," the emperor
declared, '' either to us or to those who know, that
the unity of the empire, preserved to us by God,
should be broken through love of our sons or
through favor to any man, lest perchance in this
way a cause of ofTence to holy church might arise,
and we might incur the dis£ipproval of him in whose
power the laws of all kingdoms stand ; therefore,
after three days of fasting, of alm.sgiving, and of
prayer, in accordance with the divine will, it has
pleased both us and all our people that our oldest
son, Lothair, crowned by us with the miperial dia-
dem, in the appointed manner, be constituted by
the general vote our colleague and successor in the
empire, if God so will ; but upon the others, his
brothers. Pippin and Louis, it has pleased the gen-
eral council to confer the royal dignity and to ap-
point them over the places to be mentioned." Pip-
pin accordingly was established as king over Aqui-
tania and Gascony, with the Mark of Toulouse and a
few estates in Burgundy, while Louis received
Bavaria with some neighboring territory, the district
which had been bestowed formerly upon Lothair.

More or less independent rights were to be held
by these two kings, but once a year they were,
together or singly, to visit their older brother with
gifts, which he was to return in larger measure, bear-
ing them all possible aid whenever necessary They
were not to undertake any wars against foreign ene-

386 The Age of Charlemagne.

mies without his permission, nor could either marry
without his approval. If either of the brothers died
leaving heirs, his kingdom was not to be divided
among them, but was to go to the one whom the
people might choose ; and if either of the brothers
died without heirs, his kingdom was to revert to the
older surviving brother.'

Several capitularies also were put forth, probably
at this same assembly, regarding the constitution
and condition of the church. The Benedictine rule,
as revived by Benedict of Aniane, was imposed
anew upon all monasteries, and the canonical life,
according to the rules of Chrodegang of Metz, was
authoritatively established for all cathedral clergy.
It was also declared that church property under
Louis and his successors should suffer neither divi-
sion nor diminution. Free episcopal elections were
guaranteed, the ordination of serfs was regulated,
episcopal authority sustained, and the safety and
honor of churches upheld, together with minor regu-
lations regarding the conduct of the clergy.^ Thus
a strong political and ecclesiastical order seemed to
have been secured.

Hardly had the assembly been dissolved, how-
ever, when word came to the emperor that his
nephew, Bernhard, yielding to evil counsels, was
about to declare himself independent, to overthrow
Louis, and to usurp the imperial power. The
causes of this conspiracy were said to have been the
making of Lothair co-emperor, and the fact that in

' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 270-273 ; " Ordinatio Imperii," A.D. 817.
' Ibid., vol. i., pp. 273-278.

Bcrnhard's Rebellion, 387

the provisions of 817 Bernhard was not considered.'
But the rebellion really had a deeper significance
than this. Italy, it is said, was ready to cast off
the imperial yoke. Two great bishops, Anselm of
Milan and Wulfhold of Cremona, besides many
nobles, had given him their allegiance as an inde-
pendent sovereign, and Pope Paschal himself was
believed to be favorably disposed.' Louis imme-
diately raised a large army and marched towards
Italy. The premature exposure of the plot and
the determination and resolution on the part of the
emperor filled Bernhard with dismay, and, his sup-
porters beginning to fall away from him, he himself
threw down his arms and surrendered with his fol-
lowers. Even Theodulf of Orleans was implicated.
By the general assembly the nobles involved in this
conspiracy were condemned to death, but by the
clemency of the emperor the sentence was com-
muted to blinding, from the effects of which Bern-
hard died in three days, being then only nineteen
years of age. The bishops who had taken part in
the plan were degraded, and together with the em-
peror's natural brothers, Drogo, Hugo, and Thc-
odoric, sent into monasteries.

In October, 818, the Empress Irmingard, whom
Louis had married in 798, died, and, urged, it was
said, by his nobles, who feared that he might give
up the reigns of government and retire to a monas-
tery, he was induced to marry again. The daugh-
ters of the nobles were presented to him, and from

» '' Chron. Moiss.." an. 817 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 312.
^ Milman, bk. v., ch. ii.

388 The Age of Charlemagne.

them he selected as his wife Judith, the beautiful
daughter of Count Welf, of noble lineage. In 821,
at the assembly held in May of that year at Nime-
guen, he republished the " Regulation of the Em-
pire" made in 817, and had it confirmed by the
oaths of the nobles. At the assembly held in Thion-
ville in October, large numbers of the Franks were
present, and the oath was taken by those \vho had
not taken it in Nimeguen. Here the marriage of
Lothair with Irmlngard, the daughter of Count
Hugo of Tours, was celebrated. An amnesty was
declared for all who had taken part in the uprising
under Bernhard, among whom was Theodulf of
Orleans, and their possessions were restored to
them. Adalhard was also recalled and again estab-
lished as abbot of Corbie. Important capitularies
were also put forth regarding the inissi and their
duties.^

In 822, at a council held in Attigny, Louis effected
a reconciliation with his natural brothers, Drogo,
Hugo, and Theodoric, whom he had forced to take
the tonsure. " In the presence of all the people,"
says the chronicler, *' he made a full confession and
submitted to penance for this act, as well as for his
severities against Bernhard, and against the brothers
Adalhard and Count Wala. He also, with scrupu-
lous zeal, made every effort to seek out and to rem-
edy all the unjust acts of the same sort committed
either by his father or by himself."' Whatever
may be said of the religious nature of such an act,

' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 288-291.

^ " Einhardi Ann.," an. 822 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 209.

Papal Coronatioii of Lothair. 389

it was not an edifying spectacle, and from a politi-
cal point of view weakened instead of stren;^thcned
the emperor's position.

After his self-luimiliatioii, the Government of
Italy, having become vacant by the death of Bern-
hard, and severe disorders having arisen, he sent
Lothair not as king, as some writers assert, but
merely for the temporary purpose of restoring order,
as the representative of the imperial power. Lo-
thair took as his counsellors, Count, then Monk
Wala, and Gerung, chief usher, to aid him in restor-
ing peace and order.* Lothair had restored order
to the Italian affairs, and was preparing to return
when Paschalis sent for him to turn back and to visit
Rome. With his father's knowledge and consent
Lothair accepted the invitation. He was welcomed
with great honor and rejoicing at Rome, and on
Easter Day, 823, in St. Peter's Church, received
the crown of the realm and the title of " Emperor
and Augustus." The pope also granted to him the
power over the Roman people which the previous
emperors had held. He at once informed Louis in
these words : " By the chief pontiff and with your
consent and will, I have received the benediction,
the honor, the title of the imperial office, the crown,
and the sword for the defence of the church and the
empire." "^

Here, again, Lothair received nothing that he
did not have before, both in title and in power, and

» "EinhardiAnn.,"an. 822; M. G. SS., vol. i.. p. 209 ; Bochnier.

^"s^^'^^ta Walae," ii., 17 ; M. G. SS., vol. ii., p. 5f'4 : Hoehmer,
p. 275.

390 TJie Age of Charlemagne.

therefore, as in the case of Louis, his father, this,
too, could signify only a ceremony of ecclesiastical
recognition and sanction. However, once more an
emperor was crowned in Rome, and a strong and
important precedent was being established. The
motives of the popes are not far to seek, and their
purpose begins already to appear. Two things
were necessary to support them in the new and ex-
alted position which the Carolingian Empire had
made possible for them. First, to maintain by
every means their alliance with the new empire
which had been raised up, it might appear for the
very purpose of their protection and defence ; and,
secondly, to preserve the unity of that empire as
far as possible in dependence, or at least in reliance
upon them.

CHAPTER XXXI.

BIRTH OF CHARLES THE BALD — DISORDER IN
ITALY— THE ROMAN CONSTITUTION— THE TWO
PARTIES — REBELLION OF LOTHAIR— THE FIELD
OF LIES— DEPOSITION OF LOUIS— RESTORA-
TION—RECONCILIATION OF LOTHAIR— DEATH
OF LOUIS — BATTLE OF FONTENAY — THE
STRASSBURG OATHS— TREATY OF VERDUN-
FALL OF THE EMPIRE.

0\V, however, were about to appear the

real difficulties in the way of carrying

out the plans of Louis, and the fatal

mistake which he had made in beginning

______ too soon his regulation of imperial affairs.

On June 13th, 823, a son, the famous Charles the
Bald, was born to Louis and his second wife, the
young, beautiful, accomplished, and ambitious
Judith, and the political aspirations of the mother,
the aims and interests of the church, and the jeal-
ousy of the other sons of Louis began to clash and
to come into open conflict. Lothair, who had just
returned with the report of what he had attempted
and partially accomplished in Italy, stood as god-
father at the baptism of the infant prince. 1 he

391

392 The Age of CJiaidejnagne.

next step was to provide a kingdom for him, as
Louis had already done in the case of the other
sons, Pippin and Louis the German. Lothair finally
agreed to his father's earnest request, and took an
oath that whatever portion of the realm Louis
might give Charles, he himself would be his guard-
ian and protector against all his enemies.

News now came to the emperor of still further
disorders in Italy. The presence of Lothair in
Italy, his energetic conduct, and his decision not to
support the claims of the papacy over the privileges
and immunities of the monastery of Farfa' had
aroused the hostility of the Roman clergy, and at
the same time drawn to his side the enemies of the
temporal power, more frequently and firmly exer-
cised by the pope. Thus two parties, an imperial
and a papal, were forming in Rome, and new occa-
sions of strife presented themselves. Two of the
princes of the papal palace, Theodore and his son-
in-law, Leo, had been blinded and then beheaded at
the Lateran by order or counsel of the pope, it
was said, and apparently without any trial, on ac-
count of their unswerving loyalty to the young em-
peror, Lothair."

Louis prepared to send his viissi, Adalung, abbot
of Saint Vedast, and Humfrid, count of Coire, to
make a thorough investigation, but before their de-
parture the papal legates — John, bishop of Blanche-
Selve, and Benedict, archdeacon of Rome — arrived,
requesting the emperor to banish the suspicion that

' Grcgorovius, vol. lii., pp. 44-46.

2 " Einhardi Ann.," an. 823 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., pp. 210, 2H.

Disorder in Italy. 393

the pope had decreed the death of the two men,
and proposing an investigation.'

The emperor agreed to this, dismissed them, and
despatched his commissioners to estabhsh the truth
of the facts. But having arrived at Rome, tliey
could not ascertain anytliing with certainty in the
matter, because the pope, unwilHng to submit to
the investigation, cleared himself by an oath, in
which a large number of the bishops united. Fur-
thermore, those who had committed the crime being
serfs of the Roman Church, the pope took up their
cause with great vigor, and maintained that the vic-
tims had been guilty of high treason and had been
justly put to death. Bishop John, the Librarian
Sergius, and Leo, Master of the Knights, were then
sent by him with the imperial commissioner to re-
port this to the emperor. Of course Louis could
do nothing, but the event illustrates the increased
arrogance and independence of the pope, and the
beginning of strained relations and conflict of
authority with the emperor. Soon afterwards, May
nth, 824, Paschalis died, and was buried in his own
chapel, the Romans having refused him burial in
St. Peter's Church." The parties in Rome at once
divided in the new election, but the imperial party
triumphed, through the influence of Wala, the im-
perial counsellor, who was in Rome at the time, and
Eugene IL was consecrated June nth ; not, how-
ever, it is said, before he had taken an oath in rec-

' Astronomus, "Vita Hlud.," ch. xxxvii. ; Boehmer, p. 280 ;
" Einho.rdi Ann.," an. 823 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 210.
'^ Thegan, ch. xxx.

394 ^^^^ ^^^ ^f CJiarlcniagne.

ognition of the imperial rights.' Having announced
his election to Louis, the emperor sent Lothair as
his associate in the empire to adjust the relations
with the new pope and the Roman people by an
imperial statute.'

Honorably received by the people, Lothair ex-
plained his commission. In the events which fol-
lowed there could be no question of the emperor's
supremacy in Rome. He expressed his regret at
the attitude asserted by the papacy towards the em-
peror and towards Rome, and remonstrated against
the violence and insults suffered by those who were
friendly to the emperor and to the Franks. He
censured the avarice and incapacity of the papal
government, and the ignorance or indolence of the
popes. He expressed his determination to reform
such abuses. It was evident that " the already cor-
rupt ecclesiastical state, which was nothing more
than a great ecclesiastical immunity under imperial
protection, demanded a firmer settlement." ^

In fulfilment of this purpose Lothair issued as a
capitulary in November, 825, the famous Roman
Constitution, " Constitutio Romana. " " We have
decreed," it declared, " that all under the protec-
tion of the pope or emperor shall keep their rights
inviolate, any infringement of them to be punished
by death. No further depredations, called confisca-
tions, shall be allowed, whether the pope be living
or dead, and proper amendment must be made for

' Pauli cont. Rom.; M. G. SS. Lang, p. 203 ; Boehmer, p. 281.
' " Einhardi Ann.," an. 824 ; M. G. SS., vol. 1., p. 212.
2 Gregorovius, vol. iii., p. 57.

The Roman Constitution. 395

past misdeeds. § 3. It is our will that to the elec-
tion of the pontiff no one may presume to go,
neither freeman nor slave, who puts any obstacle in
the way of the Romans, to whom alone the custom
of electing the pontiff has been granted in accord-
ance with the regulations of the holy fathers. If
any one shall presume to do this against our orders,
let him be sent into exile.

" § 4. It is our will that two commissioners be
appointed, one on our part and one on the part of
the apostolic lord, who shall annually announce to us
how each duke or judge administers justice to the
people, and how^ they observe our established law.
These commissioners we decree shall bring, first, to
the notice of the apostolic lord all complaints which
shall arise by reason of the negligence of the dukes
or of the judges. Then either directly by these
commissioners the necessary corrections shall be
made, or if not, we must be notified by our com-
missioners that by our commissioners, under our
direction, the remedies may be applied.

" All the Roman people are to be asked under
what law (Frank, Lombard, Roman, or other) each
will live, and each shall be judged according to that
law. In regard to ecclesiastical properties unjustly
invaded under any pretext, as if by license of the
pontiff, and in regard to those which have not yet
been restored, and yet have been unjustly invaded
by the power of the pontiffs, it is our will that cor-
rection be made by our commissioners. We forbid
further depredations and other injustice within our
territories, and those which have been committed

39^ The Age of Charlemagne.

must be made good. We order also that all judges
or others by whom judicial power is exercised, in
this city of Rome, must come before us, that we
may know their number and names and give a
personal admonition to each. Lastly, every man
who desires God's favor and ours must manifest
all obedience and respect to the present pon-
tiff."'

The oath to be taken by the Romans, binding
them to the support of this constitution, was as fol-
lows : " I promise by Almighty God, and by these
four holy Gospels, and by this cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and by the body of the blessed Peter,
prince of the apostles, that from this day I will be
faithful to our lords, the emperors Louis and Lo-
thair, all the days of my life, according to my
strength and understanding, without fraud or evil
intent, saving the fidelity I have promised to the
apostolic lord ; and that I will not consent to the
election of a pontiff in this Roman See otherwise
than canonically and justly, according to my strength
and understanding, and he who shall be elected by
my consent shall not be consecrated pontiff until he
has taken by oath, in the presence of the commis-
sioners of the lord emperor and of the people, a
pledge such as the Lord Pope Eugene has taken in
writing of his own accord for the preservation of
all.'"

It is probable that by Lothair's regulation of

' Boretius, vol. i., pp. 322-324; " Constitutio Romana," A.D.
824.

' Boretius, vol. i., p. 324.

Gregory IV, 397

affairs greater rights were given to the Roman peo-
ple, and perhaps a larger share in the choice of their
magistrates. At any rate, peace reigned during
the six years' pontificate of Eugene II., and it is a
significant fact that in the " Pontifical Book" of
the lives of the popes the life of Eugene occupies
only one or two lines. His successor, Valentine I.,
had occupied the papacy for only a few days when
he died, and Gregory IV. succeeded him. Einhard
significantly remarks that he was not consecrated
until the imperial legate came to Rome and exam-
ined the election of the people to find out how it
had been conducted.' During his long pontificate,
827-844, took place the great events connected with
the breaking up of the unity of the Carolingian Em-
pire. In 829 Charles, the young son of the beauti-
ful Judith, being six years of age, the emperor de-
termined to provide for him a kingdom, as he had
done already for his brothers, and according to the
agreement made with Lothair at the young child's
baptism. At an assembly held in Worms in August,
in the presence of Lothair and Louis of Bavaria, he
assigned to Charles Alemannia, Rhaetia, and part of
Burgundy, over which Charles was appointed duke.
This arrangement was the first step for Charles tow-
ards carrying out the ambitious plans of his mother
to create for him a kingdom, and from this time
until the emperor's death, in 840, no less than five
divisions of the empire were made to satisfy the
growing demands of the empress and her son.
This first division affected only Lothair, who had
" Einhardi Ann.," an. 827 ; M. G. SS., vol i., p. 216.

398 The Age of Charlemagne.

already promised, as we have seen, to give to
Charles whatever district of the empire his father
might desire. But now, when the young favorite's
portion threatened to diminish so greatly the part
assigned to him in 817, goaded on by his father-in-
law and by other of his intimate followers, he began
to consider how he could annul what he had done.
Even although the division and formal settlement
of 817 were not yet abolished, it seemed in the view
of the other brothers only a question of time when
this would occur, and that, sooner or later, if Louis
remained under the influence which at present ruled
him, Charles was destined to be his successor in the
government of the empire/

Already two parties were forming in the empire —
the party of the young emperor, Lothair, and the
party of the empress and her son. To the former
belonged by natural affiliation Lothair' s two broth-
ers, with their immediate relations and followers,
and the counsellors and advisers whom Lothair had
gathered around him in anticipation of the time
when, according to the expressed will of his father,
he should be sole emperor. To the other belonged
the empress and those upon whom her fascinations
had been exerted, notably a certain Bernhard, count
of Barcelona, son of Duke William of Toulouse,
who up to this time had held the command of the
Spanish Mark. The emperor himself was under the
control of this party. The older sons, who for so
long had regarded the empire as settled on them-
selves, were naturally indignant, and opposition was

' "Ann. Mctt.," an. 830 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 330.

Tivo Counter Measures. 399

raised against the emperor, in which opposition
Hugo, Lothair's father-in-law, was quite prominent.
Discovering the plots against him, the emperor, or
rather the party under whose influence he acted,
conceived two counter measures. By the first,
Lothair, after the conclusion of the assembly, was
dismissed into Italy, and we note that the years of
his reign are counted from this time. By this act
Lothair was confined to Italy and excluded from
a share in the imperial functions.' With this ex-
clusion vanishes for the time the essential element
of the " Regulation" of 817, the supremacy of one
brother over the others. By the second, Duke
Bernhard was called to be chamberlain of the palace,
the young Charles was placed under his protection,
and he himself was raised to be the second man in
the kingdom, next to the emperor ; ' this latter
being a measure which did not tend to eradicate the
seeds of discord, but rather increased them. Yet
Christmas, we are told by the chronicler, was cele-
brated with great joy and exultation.' In the spring
of the next year Bernhard, by his own advice, being
sent with the whole Prankish army against Ikittany,*
it was urged as a serious charge against the emperor,
that against the Christian religion, and in spite of
his vow, without any public utility or real neces-
sity, but deluded by the counsels of depraved ad-
visors he had ordered a general expedition to be
made in Lent, and had held an assembly on Maundy

1 Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 445. 446 ; " Ejnhardi /' Fp. 7-

3 •' Einhardi Ann.," an. 829 ; M. G. SS., vol. 1., p. 21b.

4 -Ann. Bert.," an. S30 ; M. G. SS., vol. i., p. 423.

400 The Age of Charlemagne.

Thursday/ In April rebellion broke out, the im-
mediate cause being the dominant political influence
of the empress. Her stepsons and some of the
nobles with them, being influenced by hate and
jealousy against her and her own son, as they saw
the control which she exercised over their father,
felt that they had strong ground for fear that Charles
might at last succeed as heir to his father's rule.

Louis was popular with his subjects, gentle-
minded, and for the most part a lover of mercy and
justice, as well as active and brave. He had been
bold, resolute, firm, and wise. He had issued laws
for the regulation of the state and for the reform of
the church ; he had sent his royal commissioners to
administer justice and to do away with usurped
rights ; by royal authority he had imposed upon
all monks the Benedictine rule revived by Benedic-
tus of Ainane ; upon all cathedral clergy the rules
of the canonical life instituted by Chrodegang ; he
had crowned his oldest son as co-emperor, and had
assigned their rights and titles to the other two ;
he had suppressed rebellion and overthrown those
opponents who resisted him.

Thus with a milder and purer character, Louis
seemed to keep up the vigor of his father's rule,
and to have inherited his father's power and for-
tune. Never had the boundaries of the empire
been so extended or its authority appeared so com-
manding. Without his father's faults he had
reached to more than even his father's greatness.

' " Ann. Bert. Mett. Exanctoratio," ch. iii. ; M. G, SS., vol. iii.,
p. 368. See Boehmer, p. 310.

Einhard's Farewell Letter to Lot hair, 401

But it was the illusion of only sixteen years. It
was true that he had not his father's faults, but it
was proved at last that he had not his father's
strength. The show of prosperity and success dur-
ing the first half of his reign was in the hitter half
to end in gloomy and hopeless confusion.

The influence of unworthy advisers became more
and more predominant, and Louis proves his right
to the surname of *' Pious," with its weaker mean-
ing of superstitious, credulous, and pliant.

At about this time Einhard, whose annals we
have been following, seeing the approaching storm,
unwilling probably to desert the emperor, and yet
feeling that the future lay with Lothair, took part
for the last time, in 829, in the celebration of Christ-
mas at the court, and having obtained the imperial
permission retired to Seligenstadt, and his annals
cease with the ending of his political career. He
died the same year as his emperor, 840. As he left
the court he addressed an earnest letter to Lothair,
which is worthy of record. In it he declares how
difficult it is to express his zeal and earnestness for
the young emperor's career, since both he and his
father have been the object of his love and prayers,
and he has ever tried to give him careful and earnest
advice for correction of morals, and for the attain-
ment of that which was useful and honorable, and
that now, though his labor might seem less useful
than it ought, his own faithfulness will not allow
him to be silent. He must still give advice for his
young emperor's safety and warn him of his danger.
" It has come to my notice," he says, " that certain

402 The Age of Charlemagne,

men seeking their own advantage rather than yours,
appealing to your good nature, are trying to pur-
suade you that, putting away the paternal counsel
and your obedience and due allegiance, you should
leave the country committed to your rule and pro-
tection by your most pious father, and strive for
that which is against his consent and expressed
order, and remain near him, although it does not
please him. What more perverse or dishonorable
thing than this could be conceived ! See what sort
of persuasion that is, and how evil ! It exhorts
you to despise that divine precept which bids us
honor our parents, and promises long life as the re-
ward of keeping the commandment. They bid you
lay aside your obedience and substitute rebellion for
it, and call upon you to array yourself with boastful
pride against him in submission to whom you ought
humbly to act. They would force you to stifle your
filial tenderness with contempt and disobedience.
Thus charity despised, discord, which never ought
to be named between you, increases more and more,
until, between those with whom love ought to be,
hatred springs forth. May this never come to pass,
for I know how great an abomination in the sight of
God is a stubborn and disobedient son, since God,
by the mouth of Moses, as we may read in the Book
of Deuteronomy, commands that such a son should
be stoned by all the people. Wherefore, I deem it
right to admonish you that, by the prudence given
you by Almighty God, you may avoid your danger,
for this divine sentence cannot be despised by any
one, since it is one out of many which our elders

The Fcicdal Clergy. 403

and doctors have handed down, as well for present
as for ancient times, to be observed by Christians
as well as by Jews. God knows I love you, and
therefore I so faithfully admonish you. Do not
regard the insignificance of my person, but rather
consider the wholesomencss of my counsel." '

But as Einhard said in his letter, Lothair was ob-
stinate and headstrong, and the rebellion went on.
Already the emperor began to appear as but one of
many sovereigns, with an imperial title, indeed, but
with less and less of the supreme authorit)-. Now
also the central power began to be still further
weakened by the rise of the great feudal aristocracy.
The archbishops, bishops, and abbots, growing in
wealth and in influence, formed a great feudal clergy,
and appear as the great arbiters and awarders of em-
pire and the deposers of kings. ^ In this we note
one of the most important as well as characteristic
features of the time, the increasing prominence of
the clergy in secular affairs, a prominence which
becomes especially notable during the closing }xars
of the reign of Louis. This was due not only to the
increased wealth and importance arising from their
feudal position and power, but also to the increased
prominence of the church and its ability to use its
powerful and complete organization for the further-
ance of its own ends and purposes.

The great lay counsellors of Charles the Great
were succeeded by the clerical counsellors and poli-
ticians of the later empire.

' Jaff6, vol. iv., pp. 445. 446 ; Einhardi, Ep. 7, a.d. 830.
2 Milman, bk. v., ch. ii.

404 The Age of Charlemagne,

The first open act of rebellion was the refusal of
the feudal army to engage in the war in Brittany, to
which, in April, 830, it was summoned, it is said,
by the advice of Bernhardt Instead of proceeding
to Brittany, Lothair, of Italy, and Pippin, of Aqui-
tania, with their followers, assembled at Paris, and
advanced against their father with the purpose of
overthrowing him, destroying their stepmother, and
putting Bernhard to death. Bernhard sought safety
in flight, but the emperor advanced to meet them
in Compi^gne, where Pippin, with the approval of
Lothair, seized his father, deprived him of his royal
power, and forced the empress to take the veil, send-
ing her to the monastery of Saint Radegund, in
Poitou. Her brothers, Conrad and Rudulf, they
compelled to take the tonsure and enter a monastery.
After the octave of Easter, Lothair arrived from
Italy and held an assembly at Compiegne, in which
further vengeance was visited upon the members of
the imperial party, Herlbert, the brother of Bern-
hard, being blinded. Lothair was joined by Pippin,
with whom were the chief men of the empire whom
Louis had discarded for his new friends. At this
assembly the emperor was declared to have forfeited
the royal power, and was retired to private life." In
the next year peace seems to have been restored.
The brothers recognized, in the face of the storm
of general disapprobation with which their treat-
ment of their father was received, that they had
gone too far and too fast, and accordingly, at the
assembly held in February, 831, the emperor was
* See above, p. 399. ^ Boehmer, pp. 311-314.

Demands of Charles iJic Bald. 405

restored, the empress allowed to clear herself by an
oath, and no one accusing her of any crime, she
was released and given back to Louis. A general
amnesty was declared, and the sons departed to
their separate kingdoms — Lothair to Italy, Pippin to
Aquitania, and Louis to Bavaria. It is said that on
this occasion a new document of division was put
forth, by which Lothair was to be left in Italy,
while the rest of the empire was to be divided so
that Pippin should have almost all Gaul, Louis
almost all Germany, and Charles a piece between,
including most of Burgundy and a large wedge of
territory cutting in between the lands of his broth-
ers along the middle Rhine and the Moselle. This
scheme seems to have been nearly a copy of that
planned by Charles the Great in 806, but was never
carried out. It shows, however, the increasing de-
mands of the party of Charles the Bald, and is a
step in the progress by v/hich he attained his king-
dom. Soon after, the sons were once more sum-
moned to their father's court, and Lothair received
an honorable reception. Pippin, however, delayed
his coming, and was, in consequence, coldly received.
This made him angry, and he hastened back to
Aquitania.

News came now that Louis with his Bavarian
army was about to attack the territory of the young
Charles, and was on his way to invade the domains
of his father. The emperor at once ordered all the
people of Eastern and Western Francia to assemble
at Mainz, where he formed his army and crossed
the Rhine to Tribur. Louis with his Bavarians,

4o6 The Age of Charlemagne.

receiving reports of the vigorous resolution and
large forces of his father, lost courage and returned
to Bavaria, while many of his followers deserted to
the emperor. The latter continued his march, be-
holding the devastation which the Bavarian soldiers
had wrought in Alemannia, proceeded to August-
burg, and there, in 832, met Louis, and forgave him.
Louis promised with an oath not to offend in such a
way again. The emperor then returned to Mainz.
Calling Pippin to him later, he reprimanded him for
his conduct, and ordered him to proceed to Francia,
there to await his coming, but Pippin disregarded
his father's commands, and returned to his kingdom
of Aquitania. In the following year, 833, the
brothers again broke out in rebellion, and the em-
peror was obliged to summon his army, which he
did in June, and advanced against them, desiring, if
possible, to win them over by peaceable means, but
determined, if these failed, to resort to arms. The
rebellious army was drawn up at Redfield, and with
it were Lothair, of Italy, who brought with him
Pope Gregory IV., Pippin of Aquitania, and Louis
of Bavaria. Then occurred that sad event which
changed the name of the place from Redfield to
" Liigenfeld," the Field of Lies, for by treachery
and deceit the soldiers of Louis were won over to
the side of his rebellious sons, and the emperor was
left alone. Once again he was sent into exile, and
Lothair, seizing the royal power, allowed the pope
to return to Rome, and his brothers, Pippin and
Louis, to their kingdoms. But Lothair, taking his
father with him, went to Soissons, and there placed

Deposition of the E}}ipcror. 407

him under guard in the monastery of St. IMedard,
and then took the young Charles and sent him to
the monastery of Priim, much to the grief of his
father. In October Lothair held the assembly at
Compi^gne, and there the bishops, abbots, counts,
and all the people presented to him the annual gifts,
according to the imperial custom, and swore fe.ilty
to him. He also received the ambassadors who had
been sent to his father with their gifts from Con-
stantinople. At this assembly many crimes were
charged against the emperor, and foremost among
his accusers was Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, said
to have been a foster-brother and fellow-disciple of
the emperor ; ' Louis was forced to lay aside his arms
and kingly garb, and was cut off from all intercourse
with any except the deputies of Lothair ; but even
then Lothair, fearful that he might escape, kept
him with him, and finally brought him to Aix-la-
Chapelle, where he spent the winter. His brother
Louis, at a conference with him, urged a milder
treatment, but Lothair paid no heed, and Louis
began to plan for his father's rescue. The emperor
being treated more and more cruelly, the two broth-
ers, Pippin and Louis, in 834, summoned their fol-
lowers to arms against Lothair, who was forced to
leave his father in Paris and to save himself by
flight. The bishops who were present there brought
ab'^out a reconciliation with the emperor in the church
of St. Denis, and once more clothed him m his
royal robes and restored to him his arms. With
much rejoicing Louis restored his two sons to his
> Frodoard, p. 193-

4o8 The Age of Charlemagne,

favor, and having expressed his gratitude to them
and to all the people, he dismissed Pippin to his king-
dom, and took Louis with him to Aix-la-Chapelle.
Here with his counsellors and chief men he discussed
the position of Lothair. Messengers were sent to
all parts of the empire announcing his restoration
and claiming the allegiance of all. Meanwhile
Lothair had fled to Vienne, and there Louis sent
promises of forgiveness, calling upon Lothair to re-
turn. Lothair, however, refused, and it having
been learned that a plot was on foot to murder the
empress, she was taken from the monastery and
brought unharmed to the emperor. Together with
Louis, joined also by his other son, Pippin, he ad-
vanced against Lothair, and finally induced him to
submit, offering to him the kingdom of Italy and
agreeing to preserve the life and property of his
followers.

Thus the first stage of the rebellion was ended,
but Ebbo, the archbishop of Rheims, who had been
the prime mover in the revolt, made a public con-
fession in the church, declaring that the emperor
had been unjustly deposed, and that the charges
made against him were false and unfounded. All
repaired to the palace, where Ebbo in full synod
confessed himself guilty of a capital crime, pro-
claimed himself unworthy of his episcopal office, and
confirmed this in writing. By a unanimous decision
he was then deposed. Further attempts were made
to reconcile Lothair in 836, and he was induced to
send as ambassadors the abbot Wala and Eberhard,
the son of Count Berengar, to treat for a settlement

Renciucd Opposition. 409

of their mutual relations, Lothair promising to
attend the assembly at Worms in September, from
which, however, he v/as kept by sickness.

In October of the followin(^ year the emperor
made another attempt to enlarge and extend tlie
territory of Charles. A new district was assigned
to him, consisting of the greater part of the old Bel-
gium territory, including Friesland, the land between
the Maas and the Seine, and back as far as Bur-
gundy, including in the eastern part some of the
territory between the Seine and Loire. Accordingly
in his presence the bishops, abbots, counts, and
royal vassals who held fiefs within this territory
commended themselves to Charles, and took the
oath of fealty to him.

In the spring of 838 news came to the emperor
that his sons Louis and Lothair were in conference
together. Messengers were immediately despatched
declaring the displeasure of the emperor and threat-
ening them with force. Louis immediately returned
and shrewdly made peace with his too credulous
father. An attack by the Saracens in the South
forced the emperor to summon a general assembly
in the middle of August at Kiersy. Here, with
the aid and support of Pippin, Charles received the
knightly belt, and a part of Neustria, consisting of
the duchy of Maine and all of Western Gaul, be-
tween the Loire and Seine, was conferred upon him.
At the close of the year Pippin, the king of Aqui-
tania, died, leaving two sons, Pippin and Charles.
In 839 a further arrangement of the territory of the
empire was made at an assembly at Worms. In

4IO The Age of Charlemagne.

May Lothair was received by his father, and fear
being expressed on account of the approaching old
age and weakness of the emperor, he was urged to
make a final provision for the future. The em-
press, remembering the promise made by Lothair
at the baptism of her son, proposed to Lothair the
division of the whole kingdom, with the exception
of Bavaria, between himself and Charles. Lothair
agreed to this, and it was confirmed by an oath.

A reconciliation was effected with the emperor,
and Lothair fell at his feet and asked to be restored
to his earlier place. The emperor was induced to
agree to this arrangement made between Charles
and Lothair, and the empire was divided into two
parts, and Lothair given the choice. One half in-
cluded Italy, part of Burgundy, and the country
east and north of the Rhone, and from there along
the Maas to the sea, including Ripuaria, Worms,
Speier, Alsatia, Alemannia, Thuringia, Saxon}^, and
Friesland ; the other half included Burgundy, the
country west of the Rhone, along the Maas to the
sea, land between the Maas and the Seine and be-
tween the Seine and the Loire, with the Mark of
Brittany, Aquitania, Wasconia, Septemania, and
Provence. Lothair chose the former, east of the
Maas, and promised to hand over the other half to
Charles. The brothers were to come into complete
possession, however, only after their father's death.
In July Lothair returned to Italy with rich gifts, his
father binding him with the strongest oaths. To
Louis the emperor sent messengers confirming his
possession of the territory of Bavaria, and command-

Death of Loicis the Pious. 411

ing him not to pass beyond its boundaries without
his consent, and requiring from him an oath to that
effect. The refusal of Louis to comply with these
conditions forced the emperor to take arms against
his son, and in 840, after having celebrated Easter
at Aix-la-Chapelle, he crossed the Rhine and forced
Louis into flight. Returning from this campaign,
he was taken ill at Mainz, and died on June 20th.

The death of the emperor was the signal for a
great struggle between the brothers. Lothair, hav-
ing learned of the death of his father, hastened from
Italy into Gaul, and boasting of the name of " em-
peror," armed himself against both of his brothers,
Louis and Charles, and sought battle with both, but
not successfully. Louis and Charles, one on one
side, and one on the other side of the Rhine, partly
by force, partly by threats, partly by promises of
honor and by other conditions, reconciled and united
their followers, and Lothair, having attacked Louis
at Mainz, crossed the Rhine, and forced him to re-
tire to Bavaria. He then turned his arms against
Charles, but without success, Louis rendering aid to
his brother.

The young nephew. Pippin, claiming the inher-
itance of his father in Aquitania, found his claims
slighted and his possessions seized by his uncle
Charles. He accordingly joined his forces with
those of Lothair, who was preparing to meet the
allied brothers in a final struggle. It was said that
Charles and Louis were anxious to avoid a battle,
but Lothair insisted, claiming the empire. The
battle was fought at Fontenay, near Auxcrre, in

412 The Age of Charlemagne,

Lower Burgundy, on June 25th, 843, and ended in
a complete victory for the German forces, under
Charles and Louis, against the Romanic army of
Lothair. \\\ view of their success the two brothers
met at Strassburg, and entered into a mutual agree-
ment, binding themselves, each to the other, to resist
the demands of Lothair. " Here, for the first
time," says Emerton, " we have a distinct recog-
nition of difference of race and language as a basis
of political action am.ong the Franks. The kings
first addressed the ' people' — that is, the army,
each in his own language.

** Then Louis, being the elder, took oath in the
liJigiia rornana^ as follows :

** * Pro Deo amur et pro christian poblo et nostro
commun salvament, dist di in avant, in quant Deus
savir et podir me dunat, si salvaraeio cist meon
fradre Karlo et in adiudha et in cadhuna cosa, si
cum om per dreit son fradra salvar dist, in o quid il
mi altresi fazet ; et ab Ludher nul plaid numquam
prindrai, qui meon vol cist meon fradre Karle in
damno sit.'

" After this Charles repeated the same oath in the
li7igua tciidisca :

" ' In Codes minna ind in thes christianes folches
ind unser bedhero gealtnissi, fon thesemo dage
frammordes, so fram so mir Got gewizci indi madh
furgibit, so haldih tesan minan bruodher, soso, man
mit rehtu sinan bruodher seal, in thiu, thaz er mig
sosoma duo ; indi mit Ludherem in nohheiniu thing
ne gegango, the minan willon imo ce scadhen
werhen.'

The Strassbiirg Oaths.

" The translation of the oath is as follows :

For the love of God, and for the sake as well of
our peoples as of ourselves, I promise that from this
day forth, as God shall grant me wisdom and
strength, I will treat this, my brother, as one's
brother ought to be treated, provided that he shall
do the same by me. And with Lothair I will not
willingly enter into any dealings which may injure
this, my brother. '

" Then the followers of the kings took oath, each
in his own language, that if their own king should
violate his agreement, they would refuse to aid him
against the brother who should have kept his word.

" These oaths, valuable to us as a proof of just how
things stood between the rival kings in the year 842,
have an especial value as the earliest specimens of
the old-romance and the old-germanic languages.
We see here the former just emerging from the an-
cient Latin, and reminding us already of the later
French, Spanish, and Italian. We see the latter,
without any admixture of the Latin, already so like
the modern German, English, and Dutch that one
can read it without much difficulty." '

In the next year, 843, Lothair, convinced of the
futility of any further attempts, met with his broth-
ers at Verdun, and negotiations were begun, result-
ing in the treaty of Verdun, which is rightly re-
garded as marking the end of the Carolingian Em-
pire, and the beginning of the nations of modern
Europe. Although in 885 the Carolingian ruler of
the East, Charles the Fat, who had been crowned
^ Emerton, pp. 2C-28.

414 The Age of Charlemagne.

emperor by the pope in 881, was acknowledged by
the nobles of the West to be their king as well, and
so once more the empire was united under one rule.
The unity could not last long. A treaty made with
the Northmen in 886, which opened to the invading
barbarians a way to the rich lands of Upper Bur-
gundy, alienated and offended the subjects. In 887
the empire once more broke up, and six different
kingdoms appeared — Germany, Italy, Burgundy,
Provence, and, in the West, Neustria and Aquitania.
The latter united into one under Hugh Capet in 987.

CHAPTER XXXII.

CHRISTIAN MISSIONS AND MISSIONARIES — EBBO
AND THE DANES — ANSGAR AND THE SWEDES
— OLAF AND THE NORWEGIANS — METHODIUS
AND THE MORAVIANS— SECULARIZATION OF
THE BISHOPS — POLITICAL INFLUENCE AND
DEPENDENCE — FEUDAL RELATIONS — REFORM
MOVEMENTS.

|N spite of all this confusion and disturb-
ance, Christianity was reaching out for
new victories. When the embassy came
to Louis, asking him to help the royal
party of the Danes in their endeavor to
maintain their king, Harold, on his throne, Louis
took occasion to send back with them a missionary
to introduce Christianity. Ebbo, archbishop of
Rheims, undertook this work at the emperor's re-
quest in 822. With him was associated Halitgar,
the bishop of Combray. So successful were they,
that, in 826, when Harold appeared again at the
court of Louis, he and his wife were both baptized,
Louis standing as godfather to Harold and Judith
as godmother to the queen. The presents and en-
tertainment which the new converts received went

415

41 6 The Age of Charlemagne.

far towards making the example of the king a popu-
lar one to follow. When he returned Ansgar, a
young monk of Corbie, brought up under Paschasius
Radbertus, and under Wala, the abbot of New
Corbie, accompanied him and continued the work
of converting the Danes. But the people, sus-
picious of the Franks and of their religion, again
drove out Harold, and Ansgar was obliged to retire.
A way was opened to him for a larger work. Chris-
tian captives had brought their religion to the atten-
tion of the people in Sweden, and when Swedish
envoys appeared at the court of the emperor they
asked for teachers of Christianity. The Danish mis-
sion being put in charge of the monk Gieslemar,
Ansgar was selected by Louis for this new Vv^ork.
Accompanied by Witmar, a monk of Corbie, he em-
barked for Sweden in 829 ; returning two years
afterwards, Louis decided that the time had come
for carrying out the plans of Charles ; accordingly
he established a metropolitanate at Hamburg as a
centre for the Northern missions, and Ansgar was
sent to Rome to receive the papal confirmation and
the pall. Gregory IV. confirmed his work, raised
him to the archiepiscopal dignity, and conferred
upon him, together with Archbishop Ebbo, charge
of the missions in the North.

In attempting to renew his work among the Danes,
he purchased captives, that he might train a native
clergy for a people too proud to receive their relig-
ion from foreigners. The death of Louis and the
division of the empire deprived him of a friendly
protector, and the conquest and pillage of Hamburg

Ansgar, the Apostle of the North. 417

by the Normans, in 845, seemed almost like utter
ruin. At the same time his mission in Sweden was
destroyed, and Gauzbert, whom he had consecrated
as its bishop, was driven out.

His faith and perseverance would not allow him
to despair ; indeed, at this very time his affairs
changed for the better. The bishopric of Bremen
becoming vacant. King Louis of Germany offered it
to him. At first he refused it, as, being under the
archbishopric of Cologne, confusion and trouble
might arise if he tried to associate it with Hamburg.
After long negotiations, however, it was finally
arranged in 849, when Ansgar received it and united
it with the See of Hamburg, the change being ap-
proved by the pope. From this time, as safer and
less exposed to attack and invasion, it became the
seat of the archbishop. Success now was assured.
He was able to win over Horik, or Eric, the savage
king of Jutland, and not only in ecclesiastical, but
in political affairs, became his chief confidant and
adviser in his relations with the empire. Horik per-
mitted Ansgar to introduce Christianity among his
people, to lay the foundations of a church in Schles-
wig, and to establish Christianity there. In 851
Ansgar revived his mission among the Swedes, send-
ing to them the hermit Ardgar, who remained there
but a short time, however, and in 853 Ansgar, ac-
companied by a priest named Erimbert, went back
to them.

Olaf, the king, supported by the nobles and peo-
ple, after appealing to the heathen lots, received him
favorably, and having settled Erimbert there he re-

AA

41 8 The Age of Chaidcmagne,

turned to his own diocese in 854. Ansgar was able
to accomplish more, because he and his missionaries
asked nothing from the people, supporting them-
selves by their own labor or by voluntary gifts ; in-
deed, they made presents to the kings and nobles,
thus gaining protection and support. Not the least
of Ansgar' s powers lay in his own earnest and reso-
lute, but humble and Christlike setting forth of the
Gospel in his own life. Rightly has he been called
the ** Apostle of the North.** When it was said of
him, as of others at that time, that his prayers
wrought miracles in healing the sick, he replied :
" Could I deem myself worthy of such a favor from
the Lord, I would pray him to vouchsafe me but
one miracle, that out of me, by his grace, he would
make a good man." ^

Having labored for nearly thirty-five years among
these people of the North, he was seized by a severe
illness, from which he suffered for four months, until
at last he entered into rest, February 3d, 865, at the
age of sixty-four years. Erimbert was his faithful
disciple and successor in the See of Hamburg-
Bremen, but the continued invasions of the ninth
and tenth centuries delayed for long the progress of
the work. It was not until the eleventh century,
under Cnut, in Denmark, under Olaf Skotkonung,
in Sweden, and under Olaf, the Holy, in Norway,
that Christianity was finally established in these
countries of the far North.

Eastward Christianity spread by the efforts of
Arno, archbishop of Salzburg, under Charles the
' Neander, vol. iii., p. 287.

Ecclesiastical Politicians. 4 1 9

Great, and of Urolf, archbishop of Lorch, under
Louis the Pious. Their work was taken up and
extended among the Moravians by two Greek
monks, Cyril and Methodius, and in 867 the latter
was consecrated by Pope Hadrian II. as metropoli-
tan of Pannonia and Moravia, promising obedience
to Rome.'

But not all the bishops were thus engaged or even
interested. The discipline of Charles the Great,
though reinforced by Louis in the Benedictine re-
forms and by the establishment of the canonical
life, was relaxed. Secular affairs engrossed the
higher ecclesiastics, and ignorance began to charac-
terize the lower clergy. The election of bishops,
in spite of laws and attempted reforms, came more
and more under the control of the emperor and
kings. Men like Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims,
might stand firm and resist, but he was an exception in
many ways. Indeed, Ampere speaks of him as " the
greatest political personage of the ninth century." '
It soon became a common thing for the kings to
appoint men from among the clergy of their own
court to the more important bishoprics. The
bishops themselves recognized that it was to their
interest to bring their churches into dependence
upon their rulers. This tendency was carried even
further, and firmly crystallized in feudalism, where
the large ecclesiastical estates and properties, to-
gether with the powers political as well as ecclesias-
tical exercised by the bishops and abbots, forced

* Neander, vol. iii., p. 317, note i.
' Ampere, vol. iii., p. 92.

420 The Age of Chai'lernagne.

them to become an integral part of the feudal order.
In connection with the ceremonial attending the act
of homage to the lord, and the conferring of the
rights and privileges upon the vassal, various sym-
bols were used to indicate the different official rela-
tions of the vassals. A similar custom came into
use in connection with the consecration of bishops
and abbots. Already in the fifth century the pope
had introduced the custom of conferring the pall
upon distinguished prelates as a mark of the favor
and authorization of the Roman See and of their
allegiance to it. With the development and exten-
sion of the feudal relation, bishops and abbots, at
their consecration, were invested with the sceptre,
the crozier, and the ring as symbols of their official
authority and position. The objectionable feature
lay in the fact that these symbols, representing
spiritual no less than temporal authority, were con-
ferred by the secular power, not only seeming to
imply that the civil ruler was the source of their
authority, but also emphasizing and even increasing
their dependence upon him. Thus a strong secu-
larizing tendency began to exert an almost irresisti-
ble influence. Few prelates distinguished between
their spiritual and their temporal interests and func-
tions, and with very many of them political and
secular affairs were the most absorbing. In the
struggles of the ninth century the great church
prelates take the place of the secular nobles in politi-
cal influence and counsel. Ebbo, and later Hinc-
mar, of Rheims, Agobard, of Lyons, Theodulf, of
Orleans, are only a few of the more prominent

Efforts for Peace. 421

among the influential ecclesiastical politicians of the
century. The influence of these powerful ecclesias-
tics, so often on different sides of the strife, served
also to increase the power of the pope, whom each
party was eager to secure at any time as an ally.
The feudal relations and political dependence of the
bishops and abbots, as shown in the right of investi-
ture, led to still greater evils by allowing the capri-
cious bestowal of these positions as benefices on
court favorites, or by making them objects of traffic
and sale. Under such circumstances the spiritually
minded prelates w^ere not very numerous, nor were
the conditions such as to develop them.

Among the burdens from which the churches were
not exempt was the obligation of the bishops and
abbots for military service or its equivalent. As we
have seen, the clergy not only were exempt from
personal military service, but were forbidden to en-
gage in war or to carry arms. However, the secular
position and duties of the bishops and abbots, the
civil wars, and especially the barbarian invasions,
made the keeping of such laws increasingly difficult,
and even the holiest men were forced to engage in
preparations for the armed defence of their churches
and monasteries, and sometimes even to lead their
soldiers. Yet it was only in case of severe and sud-
den attack that such extreme activity was required,
though the warlike spirit and deeds of many drew
forth severe condemnation from reformers like Peter
Uamiani. Strong efforts were made by the church
to establish order and quiet, and the peace institu-
tions— the " Vcd^Qc,'' pactum pads, in the tenth cen-

42 2 The Age of Charlemagne.

tury, and the " Truce of God/' triiga Dei, in the
eleventh, were due to the influence and active co-
operation of the clergy.

Secular obligations and interests brought with
them also internal evils and corruptions. Simony
and lay control, ambition after power, greed of rich
revenue, and pride of birth, all tended to lower the
standard and to weaken the power of the bishops
and higher clergy. Morality declined, and manners
suffered in consequence. Marriage was common
among the clergy, and ecclesiastical property was
divided among their families. There was danger of
building up a regular clerical caste. Vice of every
kind increased. The archbishop of Cambray, in
order to draw his clergy from their infatuation for
dice, or to turn it in a better direction, invented for
his diocese an ingenious game of dice with stones
named after the Christian virtues.^

As with the bearing of arms and the marriage of
priests, so in other respects the church laws of the
earlier times were disregarded and violated. Men
were ordained absolutely — that is, without any fixed
parish, and so without any responsibility or control,
and private chapels and the right of patronage still
further weakened authority and discipline.

There were movements for reform, like those of
Dunstan, archbishop of Canterbury, Atto, bishop
of Vercelli, and Peter Damiani, bishop of Ostia, but
the age succeeding Charles the Great waited for a
Henry III. and a Hildcbrand.

* Neander, vol. iii., p. 410, note 3.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

ECCLESIASTICAL LEGISLATION AND THE CONSTI-
TUTION OF THE CHURCH IN THE NINTH
CENTURY — THE FORGED DECRETALS — ORIGIN
— DATE — PLACE— OBJECT — CONTENTS— USE-
LATER HISTORY.

HE constitution of the church had been
slowly forming itself in harmony with
the events which we have thus far been
describing. Most of the legislation had
been the work of the local synods, under
the leadership and guidance of the archbishops and
metropolitans, but as the new powers of the West
arose to take the place of the old Roman Empire,
and especially, as the kings and chiefs of these new
peoples gave their assent to Christianity, and were
most active in its spread, securing its acceptance
among their people, and supporting its claims by
their authority, the connection between church and
state became ever closer and more intimate, and
their interests approached a greater harmony and
unity of purpose.

The filling of bishoprics and the higher offices
with native ecclesiastics, the increase of church lands

423

424 The Age of Charlemagne.

and property, and the formation of great eccle-
siastical estates, whereby these officers were brought
into and made a part of the rapidly forming feudal
system, still further tended to this same end. The
organization itself was changing. The personal
authority of the bishop of the chief city over the
presbyters of the district was taking the place of the
local council, while the bishops were brought under
the control of provincial synods, and of the metro-
politan or archbishop, the bishop of the metropolis
or chief city of the province. These metropolitans
received also a civil authority, which strengthened,
although it tended to secularize their position,*

Moreover, the synods ceased to be held, or began
to lose their separate and independent power, while
the political assemblies, in which the chief bishops
and abbots sat as a part of the territorial nobility,
regulated ecclesiastical as well as secular affairs.
The history of the church in England previous to
the Norman Conquest furnishes a clear and forcible
illustration of this development. It is seen also in
the history of the Prankish Kingdom. The conver-
sion of Clovis, who thereafter waged his wars of
conquest and extension, having among his avowed
objects the suppression of Arianism and the conver-
sion of the heathen to Christianity, the authoriza-
tion by the church of the change from the Merovin-
gian to the Carolingian line, and the coronation of
Pippin by the pope, were only moie marked events
along this same line. Boniface himself had said,
" Without the patronage of the Prankish ruler, I
^ Hatch, pp. 32-39, 126-129.

Subjection of the ChureJi. 425

can neither govern the people nor defend tlic pres-
byters, monks, or handmaidens of God ; nor even
could I forbid the pagan rites and sacrilegious idola-
tries without his mandate and tlie fear of his name."

This union gave to the church a discipline which,
at times, was sadly needed, while it gave to the
kingdom a divine sanction and autliority, as well as
an instrument of power with well-organized means
for its exercise. Consequently, during the reign of
Charles the Great, both powers grew and flourished,
and he appeared like a second Constantine, the
ruler, because the strong and efficient protector of
the church.

With the accession of his son and sole successor,
Louis the Pious, a change began to take place.
The weakness of the central power, even in secular
affairs, brought about division and strife, in which
the church became involved. The great power which
Charles the Great had used for her support and de-
fence was now divided, and often used against her,
till she became the object of oppression, and her
subjection to an alien power was only too apparent.

To free the church from this subjection, to make
her independent of the temporal power, to strength-
en, unify, and solidify her own organization, and to
give it a strong foundation in law and precedent,
was the great problem which, in the ninth century,
pressed with ever-increasing urgency upon those
who had the interests of the church at heart. It
was to solve this problem and to meet this need
that the Forged Decretals, as they are now gener-
ally called, were put forth.

426 The Age of Chariemag7te.

Laws already existed, and collections of them
were well known and widely circulated. These col-
lections included the canons of CEcumenical Coun-
cils, and of some of the most important and well-
known local synods, also the more formal and
authoritative letters of distinguished bishops, espe-
cially those of the apostolic, or more important and
well-known sees, and the canonical laws of the em-
perors, particularly Theodosius and Justinian.

By far the most important collection was that
made about 500 A.D. by Dionysius Exiguus, a
Roman abbot, who thus became the founder of the
Western system of canon law, and is also known as
the originator of our practice of numbering years
from the birth of Christ, the Christian or Dionysian

era.

In the seventh century another collection appeared
in Spain, afterwards called the collection of Isidore,
being ascribed generally, but probably erroneously,
to Isidore, archbishop of Seville, who died 636 A.D.

Since then two centuries had passed, centuries of
great and momentous history, in which many
changes had been wrought, new influences set at
work, new conditions realized, and new needs cre-
ated, which the laws enacted under secular control
either were powerless to meet or only aggravated.

Attempts at reform were made by the synods held
under Louis the Pious and his sons, and also by new
collections of laws. These laws or capitularies, as
those put forth by the Frankish kings were called,
were placed in a genuine collection, in 827, by
Ansegis, abbot of Fontenelles, which was included

Pseudo-Isidore. 427

in a collection made about twenty years later by
the so-called Benedict Levite, of Mainz, who added
some and composed many more from both i^cnuinc
and spurious ecclesiastical legislation, the whole
bearing the title of the Capitularies of Benedict
Levite. A further attempt was made in the capit-
ularies, ascribed to Angilram, bishop of I\Ietz, in
the last part of the eighth century, but really be-
longing to a later date.

It remained for him who took the name of the
renowned bishop of Seville, already identified with
the famous collection of the seventh century, to
put forth the most complete, most effective, and
most fraudulent collection of all, and therefore called
the Pseudo-Isidore. The full name which the
author assumed was Isidore Mercator (changed in a
few manuscripts to Peccator, which is therefore
probably an erroneous form), but the latter name
seems to be of unknown origin and meaning, though
possibly derived from a well-known writer of the
fifth century.'

The collection appears in three parts. The first
contains the preface, two letters, one pretending to
be from Aurelius of Carthage to Pope Damasus,
asking the pope to send him the statutes of all the
pontiffs from Peter to the beginning of his own
pontificate, a request which Damasus in the other
letter grants.' After the * ' order for holding a coun-

1 Hinschius, p. ccxxxvi. ; Kurtz, vol. i., p. 512 ; Neander, vol.
ii., p. 721.

2 Damasus was bishop of Rome from 366 to 3S4 A D. The
genuine decretals, as the authoritative papal letters are called, be-

428 The Age of Charlemagne.

cil" are inserted the apocryphal so-called Apostolic
Canons, introduced by a forged letter from Jerome.
Then follow the decretals, fifty-nine letters from
thirty popes, beginning with Clement and ending
with Melchiades, bishop of Rome from 311 to 314,
all, with the exception of parts of the first two,
which are an earlier forgery, the work of Pseudo-
Isidore. The second part contains the acts of the
principal councils, including the first four general
and some early Eastern ones, as well as the principal
African and Spanish councils. These were inserted
from the earlier Spanish collection, in order to give
his own greater completeness and value, and also to
impart to it a greater semblance of exactness in
places where it could be easily tested. All are
genuine and correctly copied with one exception ;
the limitation of the authority of country bishops is
made the declaration of the seventh canon of the
second Spanish council, by the addition of the words
" and country bishops," to the words " presbyters,"
adding also " all which things are knov/n to have
been prohibited by the Apostolic See." This
change would not be easily detected, and served to
bring the council into agreement with one of the
forged letters of Leo. There are two or three other
pieces, chief among them being the edict or letter
of Constantine to Pope Sylvester, giving an account
of his conversion, baptism, and healing by Sylves-
ter, concluding with the famous donation, a forgery
of the preceding century.

gin with Siricius, who was the successor of Damasus. Hence,
the significance of this feigned request is easily seen.

Soin^ccs of the Decretals. 429

The third and last part includes the decretals and
other documents, one hundred and ninety in all, of
the popes from Sylvester to Gregory II., of which
thirty-five are forgeries. This part concludes with
the capitularies of Angilram, which, Ilinschius is in-
clined to think, were written by Pseudo-Isidore
himself before the rest.'

The principal sources from which the collection
was made up are the ecclesiastical histories of Cassi-
odorus and Rufinus, the " Libri Pontificum," the
writings of Eunodius, the Vulgate (Psalms in
Jerome's version), early church fathers, letters to and
from Boniface, letters of the popes, especially Leo
the Great and Gregory the Great, genuine decretals
and acts of councils, Roman law collections, Frankish
capitularies and decrees, the collection of Benedict
Levite and of Angilram.^ Of course it is not neces-
sary to suppose that Pseudo-Isidore had all these
books together at any one time or in one place, or
that he read each of them entirely through in order
to get one sentence or a brief extract ; in many
cases he undoubtedly used extracts already made \\\
books which he had at hand. If, for example, he
used as his principal source the collection of Bene-
dict Levite, a conclusion which is highly probable
and is now quite generally accepted, the number of
separate w^orks will be diminished by about one
fifth.

It is quite unnecessary to enter upon a technical
discussion of this question of sources, but one pijint
is of considerable importance and of no little inter-
^ Hinschius, p. clxxx, ' H'U-, PP- cx.-cxxxix.

430 The Age of Charlemagne.

est — that is, the consideration of the version of the
Bible used by the writer in the quotations he makes
from the Scriptures. Unfortunately the question
is fraught with many difficulties, and scholars are
by no means agreed. He probably used the Vulgate,
but he does not seem to quote passages with verbal
accuracy, except in the Psalms, where it is agreed
that he used Jerome's translation. We thus find
popes of the first four centuries quoting from a
translation made long after they were dead.

In regard to the vexed, but important question
as to the relations between Benedict's collection
and that of Pseudo-Isidore, Hinschius declares it to
be his opinion that Pseudo-Isidore used Benedict's
collection as the source of his own, and supports
his theory by several arguments. First, Benedict
often changed the sources which he used, and the
same things which Benedict interpolated into the
genuine sources, Pseudo-Isidore also introduced,
but the latter also changed some passages in which
Benedict agreed with the sources. Secondly, chap-
ters are found in Benedict's collection compiled from
different sources already altered by Benedict. These
same sentences occur in Pseudo-Isidore with the
changes of Benedict, and with other changes also
differing from the source still more than they do
in Benedict. Consequently, Benedict is in closer
agreement with the source, and so nearer to it than
is Pseudo-Isidore. Thirdly, in some chapters Bene-
dict has completely changed the sense of the source,
and Pseudo-Isidore puts forth the same with other
changes, Fourthly, there may be found also pas-

Date of the Decretals. 43

sages in Pseudo-Isidore which have been made up
out of several in Benedict, and in which Pseudo-
Isidore has used not only the text of the chapters,
but their titles as well. These arguments settle the
vexed question, and so help to fix the date of the
False Decretals as after the capitularies of Bene-
dict, for Benedict expressly says : " Otgar, who
was then archbishop of Mainz, commanding me, I
compiled the three books." Inasmuch as these
lines occur in the preface to his work, the words
'* was then" show that it must have been written
after Otgar ceased to be archbishop — that is, after
his death, which took place April 21st, 847. The
False Decretals must have been composed after
that, if, as seems to have been proved, their author
used the work of Benedict.

They must also have appeared before the year
853, for the first certain reference to them was made
at the synod held at Soissons in that year.

To these considerations Hinschius further adds :
** If, however, you take into account the time neces-
sary to circulate the collection of Benedict, and to
write up and circulate the decretals of Pseudo-Isi-
dore, it will seem very probable that the latter com-
pleted his work about 851 or 852 A.D." '

France was unquestionably, and probably Rheims,
the place of their origin. They were cited first by
Frankish writers and in Frankish councils connected
with the affairs of Rheims, their sources also are
largely Frankish, while they abound in Gallicisms,
using both expressions and names peculiar to the
' Hinschius, p. cci.

432 The Age of Charlemagne.

Western Kingdom ; but more than all, the contents
and aims of the decretals harmonize most perfectly
with the history and conditions of the Church of
France, even in some of its minutest details.' The
changed conditions in the Prankish Church at the
accession of Louis the Pious have been mentioned
already earlier in this chapter. Greater evils fol-
lowed, as we have seen in the preceding chapter.^
The attempts at a division of the kingdom among
his sons, the rebellion against their father, and the
civil strife among themselves before and after his
death, filled the land with woes and miseries of
every kind, for besides the bloodshed and devasta-
tion always wrought by war, there arose widespread
depravity and sacrilege, the contempt of all law and
religion. The desecration and spoliation of churches
and of ecclesiastical property, the oppression of the
clergy and their subjection to and dependence upon
the civil power were the inevitable results. All
ecclesiastical discipline was failing. The clergy
ceased to obey the bishops and abbots who could
not or would not help them. In too many cases
the abbots and bishops themselves had taken part
in the civil strifes with all the fierce partisanship of
the lay nobles, and the laity too often saw in their
bishops and clergy political opponents rather than
spiritual guides. They even bore arms and fought
for the cause they had espoused. Thus in a battle,
in 844, between Charles the Bald and Pippin II., two
abbots were taken prisoners and two bishops were

' Wasserschleben, p. 375 ; Clarke, p. 369.
^ bee above, ch. xxxi.

Faihire of Other Attempts. 433

found dead on the field. Sometimes they took up
arms to defend their churches and to keep their
property from becoming the spoil of some hiy lord.
The continual civil strife left the country exposed
to the ravages of the Northmen, which began about
this time, and which the divided and weakened
kingdom was powerless to oppose. The armies
that marched against them were hardly less devas-
tating, and here again abbots and bishops had to
arm themselves in defence. Western Francia was
forced to endure the worst of it, for there the great
rebellions took place, the severest battles were
fought, and the most frequent devastations were
suffered from the Northmen. Life, property, every-
thing was insecure.

Ecclesiastical discipline became almost an impos-
sibility. The ecclesiastical power lost its sacred
character, and having no strong arm to protect it,
and unable to defend itself, fell more and more
under the rule and sway of the secular power.

The acts of the synods held at this time at Paris
in 829, at Aix-la-Chapelle in 836, at Meaux in 845,
and at Paris in 846, show at once the nature of
these evils and their failure to remedy them.' The
only hope of averting such disaster was to be found
in reforming the church, and in elevating the dig-
nity and importance of the ecclesiastical order.
The nobles had opposed the attempts already made,
the acts of the synods could not be enforced, and
some other scheme must be devised to accomplish
the desired result, and at the same time to establish

• Hinschius, pp. ccxv.-ccxxi. ; Clarke, pp. 358-360.
BB

434 ^^^^ ^S^ ^f Charlemagne.

an authority which would compel respect and uni-
versal acceptance.

This goes far to explain the general system of the
Forged Decretals, as well as the reason and method
of their success. By the development and increas-
ing influence of feudalism, the church not only had
been brought into closer relations with the secular
power, and into what we have seen was practically
a feudal subjection to the state, but also had been
very much weakened and divided in its own internal
organization, or, to express it more accurately, its
lack of a strong, united, and even centralized organi-
zation had been made increasingly apparent, and
the need of something of the sort directly in line
and connected with its previous development was
increasingly felt.

The three great objects to be sought, therefore,
were freedom from the secular power, establishment
of the ecclesiastical hierarchy with a firm discipline,
and centralization of organization, upon which all
could depend.

This threefold object, so perfectly adapted to the
needs of the time, is the aim and purpose of the
Forged Decretals, as appears from a careful study
of their contents. It is therefore evident that their
author wished to put forth not only a collection of
the ecclesiastical sources which should contain the
ecclesiastical discipline as it was set forth in particu-
lar councils and in genuine decretals, but also such
decrees as he deemed necessary for restoring the
ecclesiastical rdghne, which had been corrupted and
almost destroyed by the civil war waged by Louis

Object of the Decretals. 435

the Pious and his sons ; therefore, in the false part
of his collection he wished to accomplish that which
the synods could not do. Consequently, by the
greatest authority known to the church — namely,
that of the Roman bishops, and especially of those
who lived in the early ages of the church — he cor-
roborated that which every article of the decrees of
the Synod of Paris and of the Constitution of
Worms, and the declaration appended to the Synod
of Aix-la-Chapelle asserted, which Benedict had put
forth as drawn from the capitularies. He beheld
the wounds inflicted upon the Gallican Church in
the turbulent times of Louis the Pious and of his
sons, he saw that Louis the Pious had hastened
with great zeal to aid the ruined church, and that
the bishops assembled at the Council of Meaux had
set forth many canons for reforming ecclesiastical
discipline, and he knew that the earnestness and
labor of the emperor, and of the bishops especially,
had been rendered fruitless by the nobles. Having
all these things in view, therefore, he forged the
decrees by which he sought to provide that those
things which up to that time had troubled the
church might be done away with forever ; hoping,
perchance, that if he showed forth to the men of
his own age, as in a mirror, the decrees which exhib-
ited the laws observed in the earliest Christian
churches, they might at length be aroused by such
a method to reform the ecclesiastical condition.'

As Alzog, the Roman Catholic historian most
accessible to Protestant readers, rightly points out,
' Hinschius, p. ccxvii.

436 TJie Age of Charlemagne.

" The majority of critics have confined their atten-
tion almost entirely to questions of ecclesiastical lazv,
such as the primacy, the relations of bishops to the
secular power, to metropolitans, to provincial coun-
cils, and to others of a kindred nature, as if the
three parts into which this collection is divided in
the most ancient manuscript copies contained only
such, whereas their subject-matter includes dogmatic
and moral theology, litjirgy, penitential discipline,
teachings on the prerogatives and dignity of the
Roman Church, on the right of appeal to Rome, on
the various degrees of the hierarchy, and the like." *

In a similar way Schaff calls attention to the vari-
ety of contents. " All these documents make up a
manual of orthodox doctrine and clerical discipline.
They give dogmatic decisions against heresies, espe-
cially Arianism (which lingered long in Spain), and
directions on worship, the sacraments, feasts and
fasts, sacred rites and costumes, the consecration of
churches, church property, and especially on church
polity. The work breathes throughout the spirit
of churchly and priestly piety and reverence." "^

The author lays down most firmly as fundamental
the distinction between clergy and laity, amounting
to an absolute separation. Expressions in the New
Testament applying to the relations between Chris-
tians and non-Christians he applies to the relations
between clergy and laity.

To the members of the priesthood are applied the
phrases which usually have been referred to all
Christian believers. The priests, the clergy, are

* Alzog, vol. ii,, pp. 270, 271. ' Schaff, vol. iv., p. 269.

Superiority of the Clergy. 437

the spiritual, the members of God's household.
They are the leaders of the blind, the salt of the
earth, the light of the world. Me wlio resists them
resists God. They cannot be judged of men, for
God alone is their judge. The greater cannot be
judged by the less. They are the masters, and the
servant is not above his master. On the other
hand, the laity are the carnal, they are the blind,
the members of this world, and are subject to the
clergy, for the life of all priests is higher and holier
than that of seculars and laymen, and is separate
from them. Even to the emperor or to any guard-
ian of religion it is not lawful to undertake any-
thing against the divine commands, nor to do any-
thing which is forbidden by evangelical, propheti-
cal, and apostolic rules ; for an unjust trial and an
unjust decision, rendered by judges influenced by
the fear or order of the king, is invalid, nor will any-
thing stand which has been done contrary to the
constitution of the evangelical or prophetical or
apostolic doctrine of the fathers who arc their suc-
cessors. All princes of the earth, and all men are
to obey them {i.e., the bishops), and to submit their
lives to them and to be their helpers, that they all
may appear equally faithful and co-workers of the
law of God, lest it be said of them, " All they who
are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and con-
founded : they shall be as nothing, and they that
strive with thee shall perish" (Isa. xli. 11. 12).*
The next point is the establishment of the hier-

1 See especially, Ep. i., Clementis, §§32-3^. 42 ; Ilinschius, pp.
40, 41, 44, 45.

438 The Age of Charlemag

lie.

archy and the relation of the different orders of the
clergy. ** The order of priests is twofold, presby-
ters and bishops, in accordance with the will of the
Lord, who appointed the twelve apostles, and then
ordered the seventy disciples to be chosen to aid
them. The bishops hold the place of the apostles,
and the presbyters the place of the seventy disci-
ples. The bishops are the keys of the church. All
the presbyters ought to obey in all things without
delay. Wherefore all the faithful, and especially
all the presbyters and deacons and the rest of the
clergy, must give heed to them, that they do noth-
ing without the permission of their own bishop ;
for those who obey their bishops seem, indeed, to
confer a favor on God." '

" The bishop ought to be ordained not by one,
but by many bishops, and to be placed in an hon-
orable city, not in a small one, lest the name of
bishop be lowered in dignity. But the rank of
apostles is one, though those are primates who hold
the chief cities, who in certain places are called patri-
archs by some. Those, moreover, who have been
established by us in a metropolis, by order of the
blessed Peter, and of our predecessor, Clement, can-
not all be primates or patriarchs, . . . but the other
metropolitan cities have archbishops or metropoli-
tans. But this sacred Roman Apostolic Church has
obtained the primacy not from the apostles, but
from our Lord and Saviour himself, as he said to thle
blessed Apostle Peter, * Thou art Peter, and upon

' Ep. iii., Anacleti, § 38 ; Ep. i., dementis, §§ 36, 37 ; Ep. iii.,
dementis, § 70 ; Hinschius, pp. 85, 41, 57.

Headship of Jkodic. 439

this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it ' (St. Matt. xvi. 18).
Therefore the first See by the favor of heaven is the
Roman Church. The second See, at Alexandria,
was consecrated in the name of the blessed Peter
by Mark, his disciple. The third See is at Anti-
och, where the blessed Peter lived before he came
to Rome, and he appointed Ignatius as bishop
there. . . . Then the blessed apostles settled it
among themselves that the bishops of each nation
might know who among them was chief,' so that
their greater care might be given to him ; for even
among the blessed apostles there was a certain dis-
tinction, and though all were apostles, yet it was
granted to Peter by our Lord, and they wished the
very same thing among themselves, that he should
have the rule over all the rest of the apostles, and
be Cephas — that is, the head — and should hold the
headship {principium) of the apostleship, who also
handed down the same system to their successors
and the rest of the bishops. And this is declared
not only in the New Testament, but also in the
Old. As it is written, ' Moses and Aaron among
his priests' (Ps. xcix. 6) — that is, they were chief
among them." ^

From all these quotations, which have been given
thus fully in order that a fair and complete idea
may be gained regarding the general contents of the
Forged Decretals, it will be readily seen that the
author's main object was to free the clergy from

• See St. Matt. xx. 25, 26 ; xxiii. 8-12 ; St. Mark ix. 33-35.
2 Ep. ii. and iii., Anadeti, §§ 26-33 ; Hinschius. pp. 79-84-

440 TJie Age of Charlemagne.

the secular power, and to establish the hierarchy,
maintaining the coequal authority of all bishops,
though they might differ in importance, placing the
Roman See at the head, possessing all power and
authority derived, not, as the others, from the apos-
tles, but from Christ himself, through St. Peter,
whom he had appointed and whom the other apos-
tles acknowledged as their chief.

The authority of the bishops had diminished
greatly, and the metropolitans and primates threat-
ened to rival the power of Rome herself. Many
bishops had been accused and deprived of their
sees by the secular authority. Special attention,
therefore, was given to the manner of bringing
charges against the bishops and of proceeding to
trial. These accusations and trials were made as
difficult as possible ; impossible, indeed, for the
secular power, and every opportunity was given for
an appeal to Rome. The judges were to be very
carefully chosen, and many requirements were de-
manded in each case. The chief obstacle lay really
in the feudal relation of the bishops to the emperor,
by whom they were promoted to the episcopal rank,
and from whom they received their temporalities.
A complete reformation of the ecclesiastical condi-
tion would have demanded, therefore, the surrender
of other rights of the emperor besides that of judg-
ment, especially the right of conferring bishoprics.
This, however, was not attempted till the Hilde-
brandine era, for in the period of which we are
writing no other relation than the feudal was
thought of or conceived, and it was only in the

Case of Ehbo. 441

matter of accusations and of depositions of bishops
that the integrity of the church seemed in danger,
and that ruin threatened. It was to this point,
therefore, that much of the attention of both Bene-
dict and Pseudo-Isidore was directed. Indeed, a
case in point had recently occurred which was of
great importance, and which undoubtedly served to
give force and definiteness to their statements.
This was the famous case of Ebbo, archbishop of
Rheims.

Ebbo was a special favorite with Louis, had been
brought up with him at the palace, and had received
from him many grants and immunities for his
church.* In 822 he had distinguished himself as a
very successful missionary to the Danes," but he
took more interest in the secular affairs of the court,
and had been won over to the cause of Lothair. In
833 he was among the bishops openly arrayed
against Louis, and was foremost in bringing about
the emperor's deposition, and in imposing the eccle-
siastical penalty upon him. Consequently, when
Louis was re-established on his throne in the follow-
ing year Ebbo was seized and imprisoned in a mon-
astery, and ordered to await there the action of a
synod. One was accordingly held at Thionville, in
835, and having received from Ebbo a written con-
fession of his crime, deposed him. The whole pro-
cedure is clearly set forth in various parts of the
decretals,' so exactly, indeed, that the passages

' Frodoard, pp. 193-213.
' See above, pp. 415. 4i6 ; also 407. 408.

2 Ep. i., Alexandri. ^g 3. 4, 7 ; Felicis I.. ^Ji 2, 3. 4. 5 ; " I^c-
creta Julii," §§ 12, 13 ; Hinschius, pp. 95, 97, 98, I99. 4(^7, 47i-

442 The Age of Charlemagne.

must have been written from an intimate knowledge
of Ebbo's affairs, for if they had been in existence at
the time he would have used them in his defence.

Upon Lothair's accession to the throne in 840
Ebbo was restored to his archbishopric by an im-
perial decree signed by twenty bishops, a smaller
number than had signed his deposition. The canons
declared that a bishop deposed by one synod could
be restored only by a larger one. It Avas, therefore,
declared by the Forged Decretals that Athanasius
was restored by the counsel and decree of a smaller
number of bishops than deposed him. In reality,
Athanasius was restored by the imperial decree
alone, but this did not correspond closely enough
with Ebbo's case.'

When Charles the Bald gained the throne of the
West, Ebbo again lost his see and fled to Lothair in
Italy. Then in the year 844 he received the bishop-
ric of Hildesheim from Louis the German ;^ but as
he had never given up his claim to Rheims, he came
into new opposition to the canons, which allowed a
change of sees only when absolutely required for
the good of the church, and then only by a decree
in synod. Here, again, Pseudo-Isidore declares it
" permissible for a bishop to change his see when
forced by necessity or urged by special advantage,
but especially it is always permitted when a bishop
has been driven from his see, and, moreover, the
decree of a synod is not at all necessary."^ Thus

' " Decreta Julii," § 13 ; Hinschius, p. 471, cf. p. ccxii,

' Where he died, in 851.

» Ep.Anteri,i^2 ; Ep. ii., Pelagiill., §2 ; Hinschius, pp. 152, 727.

Defence of tJie Bishops. 443

all things done against Ebbo were declared by
Pseudo-Isidore to be unlawful, but whatever he did
contrary to ecclesiastical laws was declared to be
lawful.

Much of the work of the Forged Decretals cen-
tred, therefore, about the bishops, who were de-
fended not only against the secular power, but also
against their own metropolitans, by making a
bishop's trial more difificult, as we have seen, and
by establishing the right of appeal to the primate,
or to Rome, at any time, as all greater, that is,
episcopal, cases, were declared to be under the
direct supervision of the Roman See. Accusations
are made difficult, if not impossible ; ' neither laity
nor lower clergy can bring accusations,'' and even
for the higher clergy the test is very vague and in-
definite.^ If the accused suspects his judges (that
is, if he fears conviction) he can appeal to the pri-
mate or to the pope.* He may chose his twelve
judges.^ The witnesses against him must have the
same qualifications as are required in accusers," and
must be seventy-two in number.' Appeal to Rome
may be made during the trial * or afterwards, for no

* Ep. ii., Fabiani. § 13 ; Ep. ii., Stephani I., § 10; Hinschius,
pp. 162, 185.

2 Ep. iii., Julii, § 12 ; Ep. ii., Stephani I., i; 12 ; Hinschius, pp.
467, 186.

3 Ep. ii , Evarasti, § 10; Hinschius, p. 92.

■* Ep. iii., Fabiani, §29; Ep. ii.. Cornelii, § 5 ; Ep. i., Felicis.
§ 3; Ep. ii., Felicis, § 14; Hinschius, pp. 168, 174, 19S,
203.

* Ep. i., Zeppherini, ^ 5 ; Hinschius, p. 132.

^ Ep. ii., Calixti, ^ 17 ; Hinschius, pp. 140, 141.
' Ep. i., Zeppherini, ^ 2 ; Hinschius, p. 131.
» Ep. ii., Eutychiani, § 7 ; Hinschius, p. 211.

444 ^^^^ ^^^ ^f Charlemagne.

final sentence can be rendered without the will and
knowledge of the Apostolic See.^

The bishops were to be protected also from those
who were specially rivalling and undermining their
power, bringing weakness and confusion into the
ecclesiastical organization. These were the country
bishops, who had been appointed at first for large
outlying districts which had no prominent city or
town. In many cases they became a sort of irre-
sponsible body, sometimes being used as assistants
by regular city bishops, whose dioceses they under-
took to rule, usually with great disadvantage and
loss, while the regular bishop was away at court or
elsewhere. Often they were placed in charge, by
the secular power, during a vacancy in a diocese,
that its regular income might be seized and misap-
propriated. The results had been confusion, neg-
lect, and the seizure of church lands and property by
both clergy and laity. This was especially marked
in the province of Rheims, which had been in the
care of country bishops from the deposition of Ebbo,
in 835, to the election of Hincmar, in 845, with the
exception of one short interval.^ Under one of
these substitutes Charles the Bald had seized and
distributed among his vassals a great part of the
possessions of the church, which Hincmar recovered
only in part and with the greatest difficulty.' An-
other, in charge for a time, was the one who had
ordained Gottschalk, whose doctrines concerning
predestination had shaken the whole Gallican Church.

' Wasserschleben, p. 371. • Frodoard, p. 214.

^ Ibid., pp. 220-225,

TJie Priviatcs. 445

Earlier councils of the century already liad at-
tempted to diminish their rights and privileges, and
finally it was established that they should have only
priestly authority/ Synods in Rheims had tried to
abolish their powers, and Hincmar was strongly
opposed to them." The Forged Decretals absolutely
forbade their ordaining, and denied to them any
other rights than those of presbyters.'

The bishops were still further protected, and the
hierarchy developed and strengthened by the estab-
lishment of primates or patriarchs above the metro-
politans, and in closer relations with Rome. The
metropolitans, whose waning power Pippin and
Charles the Great had endeavored to restore, had
become more closely connected with the national
unity, and thus more dependent upon and in the
control of the secular power of the princes. This
union of the metropolitans with the civil power
brought about the subjection of the lower clergy,
especially the suffragan bishops, whose only refuge
was in the popes." But it would be impossible for
the bishops to run away to the pope on every occa-
sion of difficulty. The position of primate is there-
fore interposed between that of the metropolitan
and that of the pope. Unlike Benedict, Pseudo-
Isidore uses indiscriminately the names primate and
patriarch. To primates, or patriarchs, belong the

* Gieseler, vol. ii., p. 52.

■ Frodoard, p. 240.

2 Ep. xix., Damasi ; Ep. xcvii., Leonis ; Hinschius, pp. 509-
516, 628, 629.

-* Hatch, pp. 121-135; Chastel, vol. iii., pp. 173. ^74; Kurtz,
vol. i., p. 497 ; Gieseler, vol. ii., pp. iii, 112.

44^ ^^^^ -^^^ ^f Charlemagne.

provinces as already divided before the coming of
Christ. No archbishops or metropolitans are called
primates except those who hold the principal cities,
whose bishops and their successors have been regu-
larly appointed to be patriarchs or primates, unless
some people is later converted to the faith, for
whom it is necessary that a primate should be ap-
pointed on account of the multitude of bishops.*
When necessity arises the bishops may appeal to
the primate, saving the authority of the Apostolic
See, the final sentence being reserved to Rome."
To the primate the metropolitans are to be obedi-
ent, although reverence and respect are to be paid
to the metropolitans by the bishops.^

As to the other matters introduced and subjects
discussed — morals, ritual, and belief — they may be
regarded either as falling in with the general purpose
of reformation and discipline, or as tending to make
the work more natural, and to give it greater value
and more general acceptance. They are neither of so
much importance nor of such interest. As an ex-
ample of the false moral teaching coming into vogue,
he declares that seizing church property is sacrilege,
and that sacrilege is a greater sin than an offence

' Ep. i., dementis, §§ 28, 29 ; Ep. ii., iii., Anacleti, §§ 26, 29 ;
Ep. Anicili, § 3 ; Decreta Julii, § 12 ; Hinschius, pp. 39, 79, 82,
83, 121, 469.

' Ep. Victoris, § 6 ; Ep. ii., Stephani I., §§9, 10; Ep. Sixti II.,
^§2, 3; Decreta Felicis II., §§4-12 ; Decreta Damasi, §§ 8, 9 ;
Hinschius, pp. 128, 129. 185, 190, 479-488, 502, 503. But com-
pare Ep. i., Pelgii II.; Ep. i., Anacleti, § 15 ; Hinschius, pp. 724,
73, and preface, p. ccxiv.

^ Ep. i., Clemcntis, ^§ 28, 29 ; Ep. ii., Stephani I., § 9 ; Ep.
Luci, § 5 ; Ep. Aniciti, | 2; Hinschius, pp. 39, 185, 176, I2i.

Relation to the Papacy. 447

against one of the ten commandments.' In dog-
matic affairs he confines himself to decisions of the
early councils. There is no allusion, for example,
to the Gottschalk controversy, due probably to his
desire to appear orthodox and to avoid theological
entanglement. Many other questions in dispute at
that time, and which came up for discussion in the
councils, were left unnoticed by him, showing be-
yond a doubt that we have fully considered what
seemed to him the most important matters for re-
form, and that his collection, after all, was drawn
up to accomplish a few, but very important things.
He preferred to make sure of success in those par-
ticulars by continued reiteration, rather than to
attempt so many different things that the energy
and force of his work would be dissipated.

It has been said sometimes, and it is supposed
quite generally, that the main object of the decretals
was to enhance the supremacy of Rome, but this
view is now given up by all the best and most re-
cent scholars.

In the first place, most of the arguments for it
have been directly disproved. The Forged Decre-
tals were not composed by the popes, nor written
at Rome. They were not first known to the popes,
nor first used by the popes ; indeed, were used very
little by the popes until after the tenth century,
when they had become incorporated into the gen-
eral ecclesiastical legislation. They give recognition
to the authority of papal decretals, which had already
begun to be shown in the Dionysian collection, and
* Ep. ii., Pii I., § 9 ; Hinschius, p. 119 ; Neander, vol. iii., p. 348.

448 ^'^^^ ^^^ ^f Cha^demagiie.

had been greatly increased by Gregory the Great.
The powers ascribed to the Roman bishop were very
evidently granted for the freeing of the church from
secular control, and for protecting and increasing
the power of the bishops.

If the author had had in view the advantages and
privileges of the Roman See in and for itself, he
must have paid some attention to the patrimony of
St. Peter, the gifts of lands, rights, and powers of
which the papal letters of the eighth century were
full. True, the Donation of Constantine is inserted,
but that was a forgery already in existence. It
forms an isolated instance in his collection, and the
favorable opportunities to uphold and strengthen it
in the papal letters of the fourth and fifth centuries
he does not even notice.' Indeed, the position
given to the primates and the mere mention of papal
vicars, in only four places,'^ are regarded by Hin-
schius and others as showing that Pseudo-Isidore
was more intent on freeing the bishops from the
metropolitans than on extending the power of the
popes.'

The later history of the decretals throws more
light on these questions. As we have seen, the first
distinct reference to them was at the Council of
Soissons, in 853, when questions came up regarding
the validity of the ordinations made by the deposed
Ebbo. In 857 they were quoted at the Council of
Kiersy, and it is evident that they were first known

' Wasserschleben, p. 371.

^ Ep. i., Marcelli, ^ 2 ; Ep. Victoris, § 5 ; Ep. i., Sixd II., § 2 ;
Decreta Julii, § 12 ; Ilinschius, pp. 224, 128, 190, 467.
' Ilinschius, pp. ccxxv., cxcix., cc.

Use of the Decretals. 449

to Nicholas I., so as to be used by him in 865/
though both Hinschius and Wasserschlcbcn refer to
the fact that Servatus Lupus called the pope's atten-
tion to them in 857 or 858 ; but Nicholas in his reply
passed over the reference in silence.' Later, how-
ever, in the disputes with Hincmar about Ilincmar
of Laon and Rothad of Soissons he undoubtedly
made use of them. The process between the two
Hincmars furnishes an example of a complete prac-
tical application of the Forged Decretals on the side
of the nephew, the decretals here serving, in their
original sense and character, the special Pseudo-
Isidorian — that is, episcopalian tendency ; while in
the case of Rothad, and later on, they were always
appropriated to the papal interests.' With Hinc-
mar opposition to them ceased for a long time.
After Nicholas L they were used by Hadrian H.,*
also by Stephen IV., Leo IX., Gregory VII., and
Paschal II.' The P^rankish and German episcopate
clearly recognized the danger which threatened the
existing ecclesiastical constitution and valid rights
by means of them, and they were quoted only in
harmless passages in the synods of the last part of
the ninth century. In the Synod of Rheims, in
991, one more strong resistance was made against
them by the Prankish bishops, but the ecclesiastical
indifference and demoralization of the bishops, to-

1 Hinschius, pp. cciv.-ccvii

2 Ibid., p. cciv ; Wasserschleben, pp. 3S0, yii.

8 Wasserschleben, pp. 3«^ 3S2. „ ^ . ^ .,. ,.^, ;,.
4 Ep. 28, Ad Episcopos Duziac; Harduin, Conciha, \ol. n.,
p. 722 ; a passage from Anterus.
»> Wasserschleben, p. 3S3.
CC

450 The Age of Charlemagne.

gether with their general absorption in political
affairs, brought the unresisting church into com-
plete dependence upon the power of Rome, and an-
nulled the early independence and national individ-
uality. It was therefore those general ecclesiasti-
cal, political, and moral conditions which brought
about this result, while the forgeries alone never
would have made it possible.^

" The same shield under which Pseudo-Isidore
fought for the protection of the bishops against
metropolitans and synods, the primacy of Rome,
was the same with which the Church of Rome
crushed them." In this way the Forged Decretals,
in complete opposition to their original purpose,
became a lever for raising and supporting the power
of the papacy.^

Just as Pippin and Charles the Great, in connec-
tion with their coronations, had ascribed to the pope,
for their own benefit and advancement, a power
which he was only too ready to use w^ith such en-
dorsement, and which he never afterwards forgot,
so did Pseudo-Isidore ascribe to the papal see, for
the protection of the bishops, powers which it
speedily went on to realize and to use for its own
sake. If all this is true, it will be seen that the in-
fluence of the P'orged Decretals, based on a miscon-
ception of their contents and history, has been very
much overestimated, but there is no difificulty in
accepting the statement of Alzog.

" The compilers of the decretals by stating as
facts what were only the opinions or the tendencies

^ Neander, vol. iii., p. 350. ' Wasserschleben, p. 380.

Proof of their Falsily. 45

of the age, by giving as ancient and authenlic docu-
ments such as were supposititious and modern, and
by putting forward as estabhshed rights and legal
precedents claims entirely destitute of such war-
rant, did, in matter of fact, hasten the development
and insure the triumph of the very ideas and princi-
ples they advocated, signally contributed to the
growth of that spirit of freedom among the bishops
which made them independent of the secular power,
and gave a new impulse to the increasing influence
of the head of the church {cpiscopus universalis),
especially in its relations to metropolitans and pro-
vincial synods. ' ' '

Down to the fifteenth century belief in their gen-
uineness was quite general, only a few voices being
raised against them. Peter Comeston, in the twelfth
century, Stephen of Tournay, in the thirteenth,
Marsilius of Padua, in the fourteenth, Cardinal
Nicholas of Cusa, in the fifteenth, and Erasmus, in
the sixteenth, questioned their genuineness, but it
remained for the Magdeburg Centuriators, the great
Protestant historians of the sixteenth century, to
give full proof of their spuriousness, while shortly
after, in 1628, David Blondel, in a masterly work
against the Jesuit Turrian, who had made one more
attempt to defend them, finally decided the ques-
tion of their falsity, which to-day no one doubts.

' Alzog, vol. ii., p. 274,

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE HEIGHT OF THE PAPACY— NICHOLAS I.—
HADRIAN II. — JOHN VIII. — END OF THE CARO-
LINGIAN LINE IN ITALY — IN GERMANY — IN
FRANCE — DEGRADATION OF THE PAPACY.

S a result of the impetus and support
given by the early Carolingians, espe-
cially by Charles the Great, and the
spirit which was or had worked in the
first half of the ninth century, and which
found its completest expression in the Forged
Decretals, the height of the papacy was reached
in the three popes whose pontificates cover a little
more than the third quarter of the ninth century
(858-882)— Nicholas L, Hadrian II., and John
VIII. Nicholas I. was the greatest of the popes
between Gregory I. and Gregory VII. (Hildebrand),
a man of resolute determination, of clear insight,
and of keen intellect. He was supported by a
strong public opinion, and was able to take advan-
tage of the political conditions of his age. In three
great controversies he showed at once his moral
greatness and the wide influence which his position
afforded, as well as the strength of the papal organi-
zation as it had grown up under his predecessors

452

Pozucr of NicJiolas I. 453

through the fostering care of the Carolingian kings
and emperors. The first struggle was with Lothair
II., of Lotharingia, the second son of the Emperor
Lothair. He had discarded his wife, Thietbcrga,
accusing her of heinous crimes in order to marry his
mistress, Waldrada. Though the queen was ac-
quitted by a civil tribunal in 858, Lothair treated
her so cruelly that she was induced to confess her-
self guilty before a synod at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 859,
held in the presence of the two metropolitans,
Giinther of Cologne and Thietgaut of Treves. After-
wards regretting this act, she fled to Charles the
Bald in Neustria. Lothair, however, induced a
second synod, held in 860, to annul his marriage
with her, and he formally married Waldrada. Ilinc-
mar, however, defended the queen, and she ap-
pealed to the pope. Nicholas sent two Italian
bishops as his legates to investigate the affair, but
being bribed by the king, they pronounced in his
favor at a synod in Metz in 863. Nicholas himself
then took the matter in hand, excommunicated his
legates, and deposed the two metropolitans. In
order to retaliate, they incited the Emperor Louis
XL, Lothair's brother, to take up their cause. He
went so far as to attack Rome, but soon came to an
understanding with the pope.

Lothair was brought to terms, and a papal
legate obliged him to put away Waldrada and to
take back his queen. Waldrada, however, exer-
cised her charms, and was once more restored to
the favor of the king. The queen now asked for a
divorce, but Nicholas would not grant it.

454 -^^^^ ^£'^ ^f CJiarlemagne.

His successor, Hadrian II., continued the strug-
gle, and finally Lothair himself went to Rome, and
took a solemn oath that he had been innocent of
any wrong after taking back Thietberga. The pope
accordingly administered the sacrament to him, but
on his way home he died, in 869.

The second affair was in relation to Constantino-
ple and the Eastern Church. Ignatius, the patri-
arch, had been deposed and banished for excommu-
nicating Barbas, the uncle of the Emperor Michael
III. and regent of the empire, who had been living
in open sin. Photius, formerly commander of the
imperial forces, was put in his place, and appealed
to Nicholas to support him. Nicholas sent two
legates, who in 861 decided against Ignatius. Here
again Nicholas, who had made independent inquiry,
deposed his own legates, reversed their action, and
declared in favor of Ignatius. Photius called a
synod in 867, and accused the Church of Rome of
many intolerable heresies. At the request of the
pope an able reply was written by Ratramnus of
Corbie. In the same year Michael was murdered,
and Basil, his murderer, became his successor, and
supported the cause of Ignatius, appealing to Hadrian
II. Ignatius was restored by a synod at Constanti-
nople in 869, regarded by the Romans as the eighth
general council. Photius bore his defeat with
patience, became reconciled to Ignatius, and when
the latter died, in 878, Photius was restored to the
patriarchate. He was deposed again in 886 by a
new emperor, Leo VI., and died in monastic exile
in 891.

Victory of JoJni VI If. 455

The third struggle was much more serious and of
greater importance to the organization of the church
and to the claims of the papal power, involving as
it did a struggle with the leading arclibisliop of the
West, and the practical overthrow of any indepen-
dent episcopal authority. Hincmar, archbishop of
Rheims, had deposed Rothad, bishop of Soissons,
in 861. Rothad appealed to the pope on the ground
of the rights conferred by the Sardican canons, and
after a long and severe struggle Nicholas secured
his reinstatement in 865. A similar contest took
place under Hadrian II. Hincmar deposed his own
nephew, Hincmar of Laon, and Hadrian, in 869,
took up the side of the nephew, but the metropoli-
tan gained the victory.

John VIII., the last of the three popes, and the
last great pope before the weakness and corruption
of the next two centuries, seemed to have attained
a complete victory over the temporal power. He
succeeded in freeing the papal chair almost com-
pletely from the imperial authority. After the death
of the emperor, Louis II., he supported the claims
of Charles the Bald, who appeared in Rome, and
was crowned by him on Christmas Day, 875, but,
as we have seen, this support was purchased by
Charles at the price of great concessions. Hincmar
and his clergy made a determined protest, and at
the synod in 876 a violent controversy arose. Nor
was either the pope or the emperor satisfied ; in-
deed, the pope had freed the papacy from the im-
perial power only to leave it uni)rotected to the
sport and passions of nobles and party factions in

456 The Age of C/iarle?nagne.

and about Rome, and he died, in 882, apparently
by the hand of an assassin. Hincmar died in the
same year, and the glory and independence of the
Prankish archbishops disappeared for a time.

In the corruption and disorder that ensued, the
papacy, separated from the empire, became the
sport and prey of the factions of Italian nobles, and
sank into weakness and confusion, which lasted until
the Synod of Sutri, in 1046.

The empire, divided by the strife and struggles
of the sons and successors of Louis the Pious,
though united for one brief moment under the weak
and ignominious rule of Charles the Pat, finally fell
apart in 887, never to be reunited.

The Carolingian line died out in Italy in 899, in
Germany in 911, and in France in 987. The empire
which Otto I. created in 962 was the Holy Roman
Empire of the German people, but of the vast
domains of Charles the Great it comprised only
Germany and Italy. Thus for a time the weaken-
ing of the empire and the division of the imperial
forces had seemed to aid the papacy to realize the
position, and to exercise the powers gained by the
influence of Charles the Great, but it overreached
itself, and the final collapse of the imperial power
left it without anything on which to lean for sup-
port. Like the air to the flying bird was the im-
perial power to the papacy, and the weakness of the
empire was followed in this, as in every instance,
by papal demor^dization.

INDEX.

Abassides, overthrow Ommiuds.
165.

Abogard of Lyons, 4'20.

Ad al hard, abbot of Corbie, 200.
270, 379, 888.

Adalung, abbot of Saint Vedast,
392.

Addula, abbess, 186.

Adelbert, condemned by Boni-
face, 77, 107 ; at Soissons, 10;').

Adelperga, 191.

Adoptionists, condemned, 2.j5,
263 sq. ; beb'ef. 266, 350.

Adrian. See Hadrian.

Adrianople, battle of, 26.

^tius, chief minister of Irene,
216.

-^tius, Roman general, 29.

Agobard, 269, 351, 359, 363.

Aistulf, King of Lombards, 129 ;
relations to Stephen IIL, 131
sq. ; struggle with Franks, 140
sq. ; final subjection, 146 sq. ;
killed, 151 ; characterized, 152.

Alaric, 26.

Albinus. 316.

Alboin, leader of Lombards, 96.

Alcuin, 183. 188 ; on Charles,
172, 214, 215 ; meets Charles.
236 ; " Four Caroline Books,"
261 ; treatise, 266, 267, 268 ;
meets Felix, 269 ; on the
Filioque, 270 ; on Egbert, 317 ;
sketch of life, 318 ; relations
to Charles, 322 sq. ; powers.
324, 325 ; specimens of ques-
tions, 328 sq. ; of definitions,

333 ; poor Greek scholar, 333,
334, 335 ; no evidence as to
Hebrew. 334 ; great theolo-
gian, 336 ; timid, 337 ; infiii-
enee. 337 ; trials, 339 ; abbot
of Tours. 340 sq. ; opposes
Irish school, 349. 350 ; refutes
Felix. 350 ; death, 350 ; sum-
ming up, 350, 351.

Alenianni, 30, 31 ; Fridolin
amonff, 55 ; rebellion. 110. 112.

Alexander HI., canonization of
Charles, 299.

Alex-andria. i>atriarchatc, 18 ; in
P.seudo Isidore, 439.

Ahnansor. 165.

Alubert, bishop, 187.

Alzog, on Images, 85 ; on Forged
Decretals, 435. 436, 450. 451.

Amelia, occupied by Liutpraud,
126 ; restored, 128.

Amola, 370.

Amoricans, 31.

Ampere on " De Litteris Co-
lendis, " 337; on growth of
Protestantism, 363 ; on Scotus,
372 ; on Ilincmar, 419.

Anagrates, monastery, 55.

Anastasius, Emperor, titles Clo-
vis. 31.

Anastasius, papal biographer,
on Donation of Charles, 196.

Anastiisius, patriarch of Constan-
tinople, 87.

Andrews, on Charles, 240.

Aneffrey, monastery, 55. 345.

Angilbcrt, abbot, 263, 334, 335.

457

458

Index.

Angilrara, bishop of Metz, capit-
ularies of, 427, 429.

Auiane, monastery, 281.

Anointing, 120, 121.

Ansegis, abbot of Fontenelles,
426.

Ansegis, son of Arnulf , 42.

Anselm, S87.

Ansgar, missionary, 416 ; mis-
sion destroyed, 417 ; see of
Bremen, 417 ; success, 417 ;
" Apostle of the North," 418.

Antioch, patriarchate, 18 ; in
Pseudo Isidore, 439.

Apocrisiarius, 95.

Apostolic Canons (false), 428.

Aquitanians, submission, 65 ; re-
bellion, 110, 161 ; revolt on
death of Pippin, 168.

Arabia, Arabs, 64 ; contests with
Charles Martel, 64 sq., 101 ;
conflicts with Christians, 293,
294. See Mahomet.

Ardgar, hermit, 417.

Arians, Arianism, 30, 31, 44, 51,
52, 63, 436.

Arichis, duke of Benevento. See
Beneyento.

Aristotle, study of, in Charles's
time, 320.

Arithmetic, in Charles's time, 336.

Arno, missionary, 418.

Arnulf, bishop of Metz, 3, 41, 49.

Astronomy, in Charles's time,
336.

Athalgis, son of Desiderius, 191,
197.

Athanasius, relation to Forged
Decretals, 442.

Atto, bishop of Vercelli, 422.

Augustine, Knglish missionary,
344.

Augustine, studied by Charles,
19, 226 ; against Transubstan-
tiation, 364.

Aureiius of Carthage, 427,

Austrasia, 32, 34 ; battle of Tes-
try, 42 ; power, 59 ; peace
under Pippin, 122.

Autchar, duke, 133.
Avars, 236 sq., 293.
Avitus, to Clovis, 45.
Aymer, 373,

Baldwin, 373.

Barbarians, 10. See under sepa-
rate titles.
Barbas, uncle of Michael III.,

454.
Basil, murderer of Michael III.,

454.
Baugulf, abbot of Fulda, 338.
Bavaria, Bavarians, 33 ; Boni-
face among, 70, 75 ; rebellion,

110 sq.
Bede, 20 ; on mission of Willi-

brod, 59 ; on Biscop, 314 ;

work, 314, 315, 317 ; on study

of Greek. 334.
Begga, daughter of Pippin, 42.
Beiisarius, defeats Vandals, 26 ;

conquests, 92.
Benedict, archdeacon of Kome,

392.
Benedict Biscop, 312, 313, 314.
Benedict Levite, 287. 427, 430.
Benedict of Aniane, 268, 281, 386,

400.
Benedict of Nursia, 54.
Benedict, Rule of, 280, 281, 386,

400 ; enforced at first German

synod, 105.
Benedictines, 53, 54.
Benefices, 35, 62, 105.
Benevento, duke of, 125, 152,

153, 190, 197, 236, 237, 290,

293.
Bernhard, count of Barcelona.

398, 399, 404.
Bernhard, grandson of Charles,

296, 378, 379 ; relations to Leo,

380, 381 ; conspiracy, 386,

387 ; surrender, 387 ; death,

387, 388.
Bernhard, uncle of Charles, 234,

380.
Bernharius, bishop of Worms,

270.

Indc

459

Bcrtrada, queen of Pippin, 118,

138, 109. 170.
Bcser, influence on Loo, 8!.
Biscop, Benedict, 812, 3i;3, 314.
Bishops, position of, 20, i21, 40 ;
metropolitan system, 273 sq. ;
election, 277 \ influence, 278
sq., 284; subordinate, 270;
temporal power, 284 ; under
Louis, 280, 359 ; feudalism and
secularization, 419sq., 423 sq. ;
effect of Forged Decretals on,
427 sq., 448.
Blera, occupied bj' Liutprand,

120 ; restored, 128.
Biidulfus, 373.

Blondel, David, on False Decre-
tals, 451.
Bobbio, monastery, 50, 345.
Boethius, 320, 330.
Bohemians, 293.

Bomarzo. occupied by Liut-
prand, 120 ; restored, 128.
Boniface, 20, 57 ; on bishops
under Charles Marul, 01 ; on
Charles Martel, 07 ; " Apostle
of Germany," 08 ; life, 08 sq. ;
oath to St. Peter, 71 ; impor-
tance of work, 73 sq., 99, 108,
110 ; archbishop, 75 ; papal
legate, 75, 109 ; among Bava-
rians. 75 ; diocesan system in
Frankish centres, 70, 107, 108 ;
at flrst German synod, 70, 104 ;
settles at Mainz, 77, 108, 109 ;
monastery of Fulda, 77 ;_ se-
cures condemnations of bish-
ops, 77 ; no part in Pippin's
plots, 78 ; letter to Cuthbert, 78,
108 ; resignation, 79 ; martyr-
dom, 79 ; power under Karl-
mann, 103 ; consecrates bish-
ops of Rouen, Rheims, and
Sens, 100 ; connection with
Pippin's synods, 107 ; not pri-
mate of all Germany, 108 ;
influence over Gregory ot
Utrecht, 188 ; on Sturm, 187 ;
patronage of king, 424, 425.

Bremen, d ioce.se. 180.

BreLwalda, Ofla, 292.

Brunliilda. 40. 55.

Brycc on coronation of Charles,
210, 211.

Buraburg, bishopric, 70.

Burchard, bishop of Wurzburg,
117.

Burgundians, Buri;:undy, 31 ;
conciuered, 33 ; part of Mero-
vingian monarchy. 31 ; conver-
sion, 44 ; rceonqucn'd, 05.

Bury, on coronation of Charles,

Ca?ciliu^, taunt of Christiana, 83.

Calabria. 124.

" Canonical life," 280.
' Cancns, Dionysian. 283.
j Canons, Sardican, 287.

Capclla, Martian us, 320, 371.
: Capet, Hugh, 414.

Capitularies, Saxon, 177 sq. ; of
Charles, 229 sq., 244 sq., 255

sq.

of Frankfort, 275 ; of

Louis. 281, 354. 383 ; of An-
gilram, 429 ; of Isidore and

t others, 420 sq.

I Carolingiaus, 3, 25 ; end, 413,

■ 414, 450. See under names of
I monarchs.

Cassiodorus, 320, 330.
Chalcedon, Council of, 347.
Chalons, battle of, 29.
Charlemagne. See Cuaiiles tiie

GUE.VT.

Charles ^lartel. 3, 42, 60 ; rela-
tions to Church, GO so , 07, 70,
I 101 ; victory over Mahonie-
I tans. 04, 05 '; reconquers Bur-

■ gundy, 05 ; attacks Friesiuns,
I 05 ; Saxons, 65 ; continiU'S
; strui^'gle again.st Ambs, 65 ;
' diUiculties, 00 ; drives Arabs
' to far South. 0(5 ; peacp, 60 ;

appealed to by Gregory IIL

against Lombards, 101. 102,

I 120 ; death, 102 ; division of

460

Index.

kingdom, 103 ; view of Church
property, 310.

Charles the Bald, 297 ; charac-
teristics, 860, 361, 366 ; Eucha-
ristic controversy, 364 ; friend-
ship for Scotus, 366, 367 ;
birth, 391 ; kingdom, 397 ;
new division, 4U5 ; sent to
monastery, 407 ; fresh attempt
to enlarge territory, 409 ; re-
ceives knightly belt and terri-
tor}", 409 ; attacked by Lothair,
411 ; victory, 412 ; compact
with Louis, 412 ; treaty of
Verdun, 413 ; relations to Eb-
bo, 442 ; to Hincmar, 444, 455.

Charles the Bold, accepts crown,
224.

Charles the Fat, 414, 456.

Charles the Great, title to great-
ness, 2, 3. 6, 7, 170 sq., 240
sq., 377; the era, 3; creates
Carolingian empire, 25 ; over-
throws Lombards, 27 ; meets
Stephen III., 134; consecra-
tion, 138 ; " Patrician of the
Romans," 138, 139, 202, 204;
letter from Hadrian L, 157, 198
sq., 282 ; crowned at Noyon,

168 ; relations to Karimann,

169 ; overtures to Tassilo and
Desiderius, 169 ; disowns wife,

170 ; takes up his great work,
170 sq. ; sketch of life, 171
sq. ; relations to Church, 171,
172, 226, 281 sq., 425 ; wars
with Saxons, 172 sq. ; subjec-
tion of Saxons, 176 sq., 182;
massacre of Verden, 180 ; fresh
revolts, 182, 183; final con-
quest, 184; " Enlightener of
the Saxons," 185 sq. ; relations
to missionaries, 185 sq. ; mar-
riage, 191 sq. ; letter from
Cuthwulf, 194 ; Lombard war,
195, 196 ; enters Rome, 196 ;
' ' King of the Lombards, "197;
not crowned with iron crown,
198 ; Donation, 196, 200, 201 ;

protection of Leo, 205 ; in
Rome again, 205, 236 ; coro-
nation, 207 ; theories concern-
ing, 210 sq. ; relations to East,
214 sq. ; letter to Michael,
217 ; Rome not his home, 224 ;
imperial supremacy, 225 ; fond
of Augustine, 226, 227 ; Gen-
eral admonition, 227 sq. ; the-
ocracy, 231 sq.; Spanish cam-
paign, 233 sq. ; at Pavia, 235 ;
capitularies, 235, 244 sq., 255
sq. ; meets Alcuin, 236 ; con-
quers Avars, 236 sq. ; alle-
giance of Benevento, 236, 237 ;
subdues Tassilo, 237 ; three-
fold nature of his work, 241
sq. ; administration of govern-
ment, 242 sq. ; national assem-
blies and synods, 249 sq. ;
iconoclastic controversy, 259
sq. ; " Four Caroline Books,"
261 ; Adoptionism condemned,
263 sq. ; Filioque, 269 sq. ;
" Veni Creator," 271 ; attempt
to establish metropolitan cen-
tres, 277 ; nomination and elec-
tion of bishops, 277, 278 ;
" Canonical Life," 280 ; Dion}'-
sian canons, 283 ; sacramen-
tar}^ of Gregory, 283 ; marriage
laws, 283 ; tithes, 283 ; su-
preme j udge of clergy, 284 ;
closing years, 288 sq., 297 sq. ;
revision of laws, 288, 289 ; re-
lations to Mahometans, 290 ;
papal support, 290 ; friendly
to foreigners, 292 ; protects
Louis against corrupt adminis-
tration, 294 ; distribution of
kingdoms, 295 ; takes field
against Danes, 290 ; confers
crown on Louis, 298 ; last sick-
ness and death, 299 ; canon-
ized, 299 ; summar}^ 300 sq. ;
schools, 303, 304 ; intellectual
life and development, 303 sq.,
326, 330 sq. ; relations to Al-
cuin, 322 sq. ; " De Litteris

Index,

461

Colendis," 837; relations to
Irish scholars, 349 sq. ; forces
of disiiuion, IJT-i sq.

Charles, son of Ciiarles the Great,
182, 292 ; early career, 29.3 ;
kingdom, 295, 29G ; death,
296.

Charles, sou of Pippin, and
grandson of Louis the Pious,
409.

Childeric I., 29.

Childeric 111 , 108, 115.

Chilperic, 47.

Chrodegang, bishop of JEet/, 138,
280 ; rule, 352, 88G, 400.

" Chorepiscopoi," 279.

Chronicles of Moissac, on coro-
nation of Charles, 208 sq.

Church, lirst three centuries, 14
sq. ; inheritance, 14 ; religion
established, 16, 17. See Rome,
Chukcu of.

Classe, taken by Pippin, 146.

Claudius, bishop of Turin, 363.

Clement, condemned by Boni-
face, 77.

Clement of Ireland, 349, 365.

Clement. See Willickod.

Clergy, Forged Decretals on, 427
sq. See Bishops.

Clodio, or Clogio, 29.

Clotaire II., 38, 39, 40, 56.

Clovis, 8, 29 ; victory over Syag-
rius, 29 ; conversion, 80 ;
greatness, 30, 31 ; conquests,
31 ; king of Ripuarians, 32 ;
division of kingdom at death,
32 ; Catholic champion, 44,
45, 97 ; contrasted Avith Tiieo-
doric, 92 ; not anointed, 121.

Cluny, 878.

Cnut. 419.

Coelesiine, primacy of Peter, 22,
footnote ; greatness, 24.

Cologne, archbishopric, 274.

Coloni, 10.

Columba, St., 55. 344.

Columbanus, missionary, 55, 345,
347 sq., 351.

Comestou, Peter, on Forged Do-
cretals, 451.

Conrad, brother of Judith, 4U4.

Constantine V.. 108.

Constantine VI.. betrothed to
Ruthrud, 212, 261.

Constantine, Phrygian ])ish()p, 84.

Constantine, Donation of, 89,
155 sq.. 448.

Constantinople, struggle with
Rome, 4 ; patriarchate, 18. Sec
Eastkux Ciiukch and Em-
pi kk.

Corbie, monastery, 357.

Council, Seventh General, 108.

Courts, Ecclesiastical, 285.

Cuthbert, archbishop of Canter/
bury, 78, 108. . '

Cuthwulf, letter to Charles. 194.

Cyprian, 19 ; apjjeal to Rome,
18.

Cyril, Greek monk. 419.

Dagobert, 88, 89, 41.

Dalmatia, 218.

Damasus, Pope, 23, 427.

Damiani, Peter, 421, 422.

Danes, invasion, 296, 840. 341,
360, 361, 375 ; missions among,
415 sq.

Daniel, bishop of Winchester, 69.

Dante, on Donation of Constan-
tine, 158.

Decretals, False. 287, 425, 426.
427 s(i. Sec Donation ok Con-
stantine.

De Maistre, on Charles, 2.

Desiderata, daughter of Desitlc-
rius, 191, 193, 194..

De.'^iilerius, King of Lombards,
152, 153, 160, 169 ; political
alliances, 190 ; war -with
Charles. 195. 196 ; conquered,
197, 198.

Diaconus. Paulus, on Charles,
240, 241.

Dialectic, in time of Charles, 880,
355.

Diocletian, 13.

462

I)uiex.

Dionysiau canons, 283, 426.

Diouysius Exiguus, 426.

Donation of Charles, 196, 300,
201.

Donation of Constantine, 89, 155
sq., 448.

Donation of Pippin, 136 sq.

Dorner,on Adoptionism, 264, 265.

Droclitegang, abbot of Jumieges,
133

Drogo, 380, 387, 388.

Dunstan, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 422.

Dyotheletic Synod, 264.

Eardulf, 290.

Easter dispute, 346, 347,

Eastern Church and Empire,
struggle with Rome, 4 ; rela-
tion of Charles to, 214 sq.,
222 ; Filioque controversy, 269
sq. See Exakchs ; Image
Worship ; Leo III.

Eaubald, archbishop of York,
323.

Ebbo, archbishop of Rheims, 174,
footnote, 407. 408, 420 ; work
among the Danes, 415 sq. ;
bearing of Forged Decretals
on, 441 sq.

Eberhard, 408.

Edict of 615, 40.

Egbert, archbishop of York, 317,
318.

Egypt, Mahometan, 64.

Eichstadt, bishopric, 76.

Einhard, on Karlmann, 112 ; on
puppet kings, 115 ; on Frank-
ish support of papacy. 136
on war with Saxons, 173 sq.
on coronation of Charles, 212
on double emperorship. 217
on llaroun ai Raschid and
Charles, 291 ; on Charhs's in-
tellectual attainments, 326 ; on
Rabanus, 356 ; letter to Lothair
and death, 401 sq. ; Elipantus,
archbishop of Toledo, 263, 264,
268.

Emerton, on distinction of race

and language among Franks,

412.
England, Church of, time of

Charles, 311 sq. ; previous to

Norman conquest, 424.
English, conversion of, 20.
Ennodius, bishop of Pa via, use

of word " pope," 23, footnote.
Ephesus, Council of, primacy of

Peter at, 22, footnote.
Episcopate. See Bishops.
Erasmus, on Forged Decretals,

451.
Erfurt, bishopric, 76.
Eric of Auxerre, 373.
Eric of Jutland, 417.
Erigena. See Scotus.
Erimbert, 417, 418.
Estinnes, Council at, 105.
Ethelbert, archbishop of York,

318 3^'-^
Eucharist, 265, 363 sq.
Eudes, 65.
Eugene II., 393 ; peaceful reign,

397.
Eutychians, 265.
Exarchs, Exarchate, 88, 93, 95,

127, 128, 130, 131, 132, 139,

203, 204.
Exiguus, Dionysius, 426.

False Decretals, 23, 287, 425, 426,
427 sq.

Farfa, monastery, 392.

Felix of Urgel, heresies con-
demned by Charles, 231, 263,
267 sq. ; belief, 266 ; meets
Alcuin, 269; refuted by Al-
cuin, 350.

Feudalism, 5, 21, 35, 36, 40, 46,
47, 65, 258, 284. 300, 301, 302,
375, 376, 378, 403, 419 sq., 423
sq.

" Field of Lies," 406.

Filioque clause, 269 sq.

Fleury, on letter from St. Peter,
145.

Floras of Lyons, Eucharistic con-

Indi

c.w

4^3

troversy, 364 ; predestination
controversy, ;j70.

Foldrail, abbU of St. Denis, \\1 ,
133, 147. 159.

Fontuna), Oo.

Fontcnay, 55, 411.

Frankfort, assembly of, 255, 263,
268.

Frankfort, capitularies of, 275.

Franks, the, 5, 25, 27 ; Catholics
44 ; help from Church, 45 ;
difference between their kin^^-
dom and other German king-
doms, 53 ; prestige established,
100 ; rebellions after death of
Charles, 110 sq. ; signilicance
of Pippin's coronation, IIS,
119 ; donation of Pippin, 136
sq. ; bound to papacy, 151 ;
council of Vermcuil, 162 sq. ;
distinctions of race and lan-
guage, 412. bee under uames
of kings.

Frederick I., canonization of
Charles, 299.

Freising, bishopric, 75.

Fridolin, Irish missionary, 55.

Friesians, 59, 05, 69.

Frodoard, 373.

Fulda, 77, 187, 354, 359.

Fulrad. See Foldrad.

Gallese, acquisition of by Greg-
ory, 125.

Gallus, founder of St. Gall, 56.

Gauzbert, missionary, 417.

General admonition, 227 sti- ;
338.

Gentilly, Synod at, 269.

Gerberga, daughter of Deside-
rius, 191.

German Church. See Boniface.

Germans, inheritors of Roman
power and civilization, 13, 25
sq. ; results of migrations and
conquests, 43 sq. See Cmvis ;
Charles the Great ; Mero-
VLNGIANS ; Fra2>K8, aiid names
of separate tribes,

German Synods, First, 76, KH ;
Second, 105.

Gcrmanus, patriarch of Coustan-
tinoi)le, deposed, H7.

Geroid, brolher-iii-law of Charle.H,
237.

Geroid. count, 380.

Gcruni;-, 3^9.

Gewiliieb, 109.

Gibbon, on Theodoric, 92 ; on
temporal power, 159 ; on
(Charles, 210.

Gieslemar, monk. 416.

Gisla, sister of Charles, 170, 191.

Goths, 26, 30 ; conversion, 43.

Gottfried. 373.

Gottschalk, on Predestination,
368 sq.

Grammar, time of Charles, 335,
336.

Gratian, confers papal rights
upon Uamasus, 23.

Greece, intellectual inheritance
from, 8, 9.

Greek Church. Sec Eastern
CiiURCir.

Greek, study of, time of Charles,
333.

Gregorovlus, on cont^uest of
Liutprand, 100 ; on Icono-
clasm, 123.

Gregory I., greatness, 24. 97, 98,
124 ; on image worship, 82 ;
checks Lombards, 97, 98 ;
Milmau on, 98.

Gregory II., aids Boniface, 69 ;
policy towards Leo, 87 sq..
123 ; checks Liuti)rand, lUO ;
death, 101 ; probable attemi)t
at confederation. 156.

Gregory ill., relations to Boni-
face,"75 ; to Franks, 101. 102,
126 ; death, 102, 127 ; decrees
against Iconoclasts, 123 ; cou-
llict with Leo, 121 ; in pos-
session of Gallese, 125 • rela-
tions to liOmbard dukes. 125 ;
prol)able fal.-^lty of tradition of
visit to Charles Martel, 133.

464

Index,

Gregory IV., 397, 406 ; missions
in the North, 416.

Gregory VI., 373.

Gregory VII., enforces use of
word "pope," 23, footnote;
scholar of Cluny, 373 ; Forged
Decretals, 449.

Gregory of Tours, on Clovis,
32 ; social position, 45 ; on
Chilperic, 47, 48, footnote ; on
learning, 309 ; on Capella, 321.

Gregory of Utrecht, 186, 187.

Gregory the Great. See Greg-
ory I.

Grifo, 103 ; rebellion, 113, 114 ;
killed, 114, footnote, 134 ; ter-
ritory, 297.

Grimoald, 42.

Guizot, on Charles, 241 ; on as-
semblies, 254 ; on capitularies,
255, 256.

Giinther of Cologne, 453.

Hadrian I., letter to Charles,
157, 198 sq., 282 ; policy, 195 ;
Donation of Charles, 196, 200,
201 ; relations to East, 214 ;
sends copy of Dionysian canons
to Charles, 283 ; also copy of
Sacraraeutary of Gregory, 283.

Hadrian II., 449, 454, 455.

Hadrian IV., claim to Ireland,
157.

Hadrian, missionary, 312, 315.

Halitgar, bishop of Cambray,
415.

Hambury, ecclesiastical jurisdic-
tions, 275.

Hanold, duke of Aquitanians,
110, 111, 112, 168, 169.

Harold, King of Danes, 379, 415.

Ilaroun al Raschid, 291.

Ilaureau, on Alcuin, 334.

Henry II., England, grant of
Ireland, 158 ; canonization of
Charles. 299.

Herbert, 404.

Hcrsfield, monastery, 187, 357.

Hertford, Council of, 70,

Hessians, Boniface among, 71,
73.

Hildegard, 193.

Hildelidis, 315.

Hildibald, 274, 299, 373, 381.

Hildigar, bishop of Cologne, 134.

Hincmar, on General Assem-
blies, 250 ; power, 276, 353,
359, 419, 420 ; relations to
Gottschalk, 370 ; to Charles
the Bald, 444 ; to Nicholas I.,
449, 455 ; defends Thietberga,
453 ; relations to Hadrian II.,
455 ; death, 456.

Hincmar of Laon, 449, 455.

Hinschius, on Pseudo Isidore,
429 sq., 448, 449. See Dona-
tion OF CONSTANTINE.

Hirschau, monastery, 357.

Holy Roman Empire, 224, 456.

Horik of Jutland, 417.

Hugo, father-in-law of Lothair,
399.

Hugo, son of Charles, 380, 387,
388.

Humfrid, count of Coire, 392.

Huns, 26, 29, 375, footnote.

Ibas, letter to Maris, 347.

Ibn-al Arabi, governor of Sara-
gossa, 234.

Iconoclasm. See Image Wor-
ship.

Ignatius, patriarch of Constan-
tinople, 454.

Illyricum, translated to patri-
archate of Constantinople, 124.

Image Worship, 81 sq., 99;
iconoclasm, 85, 87, 88 ; de-
crees of Gregory III., 123,
124 ; council of Nicea in favor
of, 214, 259 sq. ; Constantino-
politan decrees condemned at
Frankfort, 255.

Immunities, 284, 285, 327.

Ingelheim, diet of, 237.

Innocent I., 24 ; greatness, 98.

Ireland, zeal in, 54 ; develop-
ment of learning in, 310 sq..

Indc

465

u4o sq. ; school opposed by
AlcuiQ and Thcodiilf, 349 S(i.

Irene, 209.

Irmiugard, wife of Lotliuir, 388.

Irmingard, wife of Louis, 382,
387.

Isaac of Constantinople, ad-
dresses Frederick as emperor,
218.

Isidore ^Mercator, 427.

Isidore of Seville, 320, 330, 426,
427.

Islam. See IMAnoMETANisM.

Italy, after division of empire,
01 sq. ; national movement,
125.

Jerusalem, first local centre of
Church, 15 ; patriarchate, 18.

Jews, image worship, hindrance
to conversion, 83.

John, archbishop of Aries, 381.

John, bishop of Blanche-Selve,
392, 393.

John VIII., offers crown to
Charles the Bold, 224 ; great-
ness, 455.

Judith, wife of Louis, 388, 391,
397, 400, 404, 410 ; godmother
to Danish queen, 412.

Julius, bishop of Rome, right to
receive appeals, 22.

Justinian, 92.

Karlmann, son of Charles Martel,
7G, 103 ; relations to Boniface,
103 ; German synods, 103 sq. ;
proceeds against Saxons, 111 ;
murders Alemanuians, 1 12 ;
retirement, 112, 129 ; urges
Pippin not to yield to Stephen,
140 ; removed to Vienna and
death, 141.

Karlmann, brother of Charles,
consecrated bv Stephen III.,
138 ; " Patrician of the Ro-
mans," 138, 139 ; crowned at
Soissons, 168 ; desertion of
Charles, 169, 194 ; marriage,

DD

170, 191 s(i. ; death, 168, 170,

194.
Karlmann, sou of C'liarles, 236.
Kiersy, Council of, 448.

Lal)uinus, missionary, 186.

Land f rid, duke of the Aleman-
uians, 113.

Langobards. See Lombards.

Learning. See Alcuin ; Ciiaules
TiiH Great ; Louisthk Pious.

Lehuerou, on consecration of
Clovis, 121 ; on General As-
semblies, 255,

Lcidrad, archbishop of Lyons,
208.

Leo I., pope, primacy of Peter,
22, footnote ; greatness, 24, 98 ;
relation to Pippin, 290.

Leo III., emperor, victory over
Mahometans, 64 ; on images,
82, 84, 85 ; edict, 86, 87 ;
death, 102 ; conflict with Greg-
ory IIL, 124; confers Mirfa
and Norma on pope, 129.

Leo III., pope, receives Charles's
royal claims, 204 ; flees to
Charles, 205 ; purgation, 205,
206 ; crowns Charles, 207 ;
Prankish account of corona-
tion. 208 ; Filioque, 270 ; se-
verity, 380 ; troubles and
death, 380, 381.

Leo. v., emperor, 379.

Leo VI., emperor, 454.

Leo IX., pope. Forged Decretals,
449.

Leo, master of the Knights, 393.

Leo, son-in-law of Theodore of
the papal palace, 392.

Lestinnes, council at, 105.

Liptime, council at, 105.

Liutprand, ally of Charles Mar-
tel, 06, 107 ; checked by Greg-
ory II., 100 ; death, 102, 128 ;
attacks Spoleto, 126 ; present
at the function of Zucharias,
127 ; treaty with Zacharias,
128 ; attacks Ravenna, 128.

466

Index.

Lombards, 25, 27 ; couversiou,
44 ; aid Charles Murtel, 60 ;
time of Leo IIL, 88 sq. ; an-
archy, 03 ; invasion, 95 sq. ;
history sketched, 96 ; checked
by Gregory, 97, 98 ; by Greg-
ory II., 100 ; final efforts, 155 ;
marriage alliances with
Franks, 190 sq. ; war with
Charles, 195, 196 ; conquest,
197, 198. See Aistulp ; Liut-

PRAND.

Lorenz, on education in eighth
century, 3U5, 333.

Lothair I., crowned in Rome,
224, 358, 378 ; crowned at Aix-
la-Chapelle, 38-1, 385 ; mar-
riage, 388 ; in ] taly and Rome,
389 ; godfather to Charles the
Bald, 391 ; protector, 392 ;
strength, 392; sent to adjust
relations with Eugene II., 394 ;
supreme in Rome, 394 ; Ro-
man constitution, 394 sq. ; en-
croachments of Charles the
Bald, 398 ; against Louis, 398 ;
confined to Italy, 399 ; letter

■ from Einhard, 401 sq. ; head-
strong, 403 ; open rebellion,
404 ; restores father to rights,
404, 405 ; new division of ter-
ritory, 405 ; supreme, 406,
407 ; brothers plot against
him, 407 ; submission, 408 ;
division of empire with
Charles, 410 ; arms against his
brothers, 411 ; joins with Pip-
pin, 411 ; defeat at Fontenay,
412 ; treaty of Verdun, 413 ;
case of Ebbo, 441, 442.

Lothair II., 453, 454.

Louis the Pious, coronation, 213 ;
never at Rome, 224 ; King of
Aquitania, 236, 293 ; adminis-
tration of districts under, 248,
254, 255 ; election of bishops,
277 ; position of bishops under,
279 ; " Canonical Life," 281 ;
capitularies, 281, 354, 383 ;

early career, 293, 294 ; king-
dom, 295 ; gives duchy of
Maine to his son, 297 ; closing
years of his father's life, 297 ;
joint emperorship with father,
298 ; translation of Scriptures,
352 ; no encouragement to
Irish school, 365 ; not specu-
lative, 366 ; forces of disunion
in kingdom, 374 sq., 384 ;
early career on throne, 378,
379 ; relations with Leo, 380 ;
with Stephen V., 381 ; crown-
ed, 382 ; donation to papacy,
383 ; Lothair crowned, 384 ;
"Regulation of the Empire,"
885, 388 ; rebellion of Bern-
hard, 366, 387 ; penance for
severities, 388 ; sends Lcthair
to Italy, 389 ; investigations
in Italy, 392 sq. ; under influ-
ence of queen, 397 sq. ; rebel-
lion in family, 398, 400 ; char-
acteristics, 400, 401 ; con-
quered by sons, 404 ; retired,
404 ; restored, 405 ; rebellion
of Louis, 405, 408 ; fresh re-
bellions of sons, 406 sq. ;
Louis and Pippin to the rescue,
407 ; submission of Lothair,
408 ; territory of Charles, 409,
410 ; arms against Louis and
death, 411 ; patron of missions,
416 sq. ; case of Ebbo, 441.
Louis, son of Louis the Pious,
dispute as to succession after
death, 224 ; primogeniture,
378, 379 ; receives Bavaria,
385 ; sides with Lothair, 398 ;
new division of territory, 405 ;
rebellion, 405, 406 ; to rescue
of his father, 407 ; submission
of Lothair, 408 ; fresh plots,
409 ; possessions confirmed,
410 ; attacked by father, 411 ;
compact with Charles, 412 ;
treaty of Verdun, 413 ; offers
see of Bremen to Ansgar, 417 ;
relations to Ebbo, 442.

Index

467

Louis II.. brother of Lotliair If.,

224, 455.
Louis the German. Sec Loi is,

Son ok Louis the Pious.
Ludvvig the Geriniin. See Louis,

Son of Louis the Pious.
Lii.!;enfcld, 406.
Luidger, missiouary, 180, IHH.
Luitperga. I'JO.
Lull, successor of Bouifacc, 79,

274.
Lupus, duke of Wasconia, KiO.
Lupus. Servatus, 357, 359, 301

sq., 440.
Liittich, under Hildibald, 274.
Luxeuil, monastery, 55, 345.
Luxovium, monastery, 55.

Macchiavclli on Theodoric, 92.

!Magdehurg Centuriators, 451.

Mahomet, "iMahometanlsm, influ-
ence on Church, 4 ; victories
and progress, 63 sq. ; power,
63, 64 ; at diet of Paderborn,
233, 234 ; in Spain. 264 ; rela-
tions to Charles, 290 ; conflicts
with Christians, 293, 294 ; pre-
destination, 370 ; invasions,
375.

Maifield, Mayfield, 144, 102, 176,
249 sq., 254, 255.

Maine, duchy of, 296.

Mainz, ecclesiastical centre, 274 ;
jurisdiction, 275, 270,

Major domus. See Mayors of
Palace.

Mar field. See Maifield.

jMariolatry, 81.

Marriage, laws of, 283.

]\larsilius of Padua, on Donation
of Constantine, 158 ; on Forged
Decretals, 451.

Maurus Rabanus. See Rabanus,
Mauius.

Mayors of the palace, 38 sq., 59,
114 sq.

]\Iartianus Capella. 320, 371.

Mcaux. Council of, 435, 1

Merovingians, 3, footnote, 29 '

sti. ; deca}' of power, 34 sq.,

40 ; fall, 42.
Methodius, Greek monk. 419.
.Metropolitan system, 270 sq. ;

Forged Decretals, 430, 438, 440

S(i.. 451.
Metz, ecclesiastical position, 270.
Michael I., emperor, relations to

Charles. 217.
Michael III., emperor. 454.
Milman, on Gregory, 98.
Mirfa, conferred on Church, 129.
Mi»i^l Domimcly 243 sq.
Missionary work, 0, 53 sq. ;

under Charles. 184 sq., 343

sq. ; among Danes, 415 sq. ;

in Sweden. 410, 417. SeeAxs-

GAll ; ArNO ; COLUMBANUS ;

Boniface ; Fkidolln ; Wil-

LIBUOD ; WiLLEIIAD.

Moissac, clironicles of, on corona-
tion of Charles. 208 sq.

]\Iombert, story about llildegard,
193 ; on intellectual greatness
of Charles, 330 sq.

Monasteries, position of, in this
era, 0, 21 ; united under Bene-
dict, 54 ; immunities. 284, 2i:5 ;
history sketched, 307, 308.

Monophysitism, 84, 85, 264.

Monothelitism, 85, 204.

MuUinger, on Alcuin, 335. 350 ;
on episcopal schools, 353 ; on
Rabanus, 355 ; on Scotus, 371,
372.

Narses, overthrows Ostrogoths,
27 ; con(iuests. 92 ; relations
to Lombards, 90.

Neander, on Adelbert, 107.

Xefrid, bishop of Narbonne, 208.

Nestorius, Nestorianism, 261.

Neustria, 32, 34 ; battle of Tes-
tr}', 42 ; under Charles Martel,
00; und(T Pippin, 122; after
death of Pippin, 168.

Nicephorus, 217.

Nicholas I., Forged Decretals,
440 ; greatness, 452 ; relations

468

Index,

to Lotliair II., 453 ; to Eastern

Church, 454.
Nicholas 11, , Forged Decretals,

449.
Nicholas of Cusa, on Donation

of Coustantine, 158 ; on Forged

Decretals, 451.
Norma, conferred on Church,

129.
Northalbingians, 183.

" Octavius" of Minucius Felix,
83, 84.

Odo of Clugny, 373,

Odoacer the Herulian, 27, 29,
91 ; overthrown, 92.

Offa, Bretwalda, 292, 340.

Olaf, of Sweden, 417.

Olaf Skotkonung, 418.

Olaf the Holy, 418.

Ommiads, overthrown, 165.

Orleans, school at, 353.

Orte, occupied by Liutprand,
126 ; restored, 128.

Ostrogothic kingdom, 31 ; con-
version, 44, 51, 52.

Otfried of Weissenberg, 357.

Otgar, archbishop of Mainz, 431.

Ottilo, duke of Bavarians, 110.

Otto I„ 224, 375, footnote, 456,

Paderborn, diet of, 233 ; under

Mainz, 274,
Palestine, Mahometan, 64.
Pallium, the. 22, 276.
Papacy. See Rome, Church of.
Paris, Council of, 40.
Paris, University of, 303, 304,

389 ; investiture of Louis, 392

sq.
Paschal I., 383, 387 ; death, 393.
Paschal II., 449,
Paschal, anti-pope, canonization

of Charles, 299,
Puschasius Kadbertus, 266 ;

eucharistic controvers}', 363

sq.
Passau, bishopric, 75.
"Patriarch," title, 23, footnote.

" Patrician of the Romans," 138,
139, 202. 204.

Patrick, St., 54, 343, 344, 373,
374,

Paul I., 139 _; succession, 152 ;
letters to Pippin, 153 ; on Ro-
man supremacy, 283,

Paulicians, 82, 83,

Paulinus, of York, 316.

Paulinus. patriarch of Aquileia,
268, 323.

Paul the Deacon, 323, 324, 338 ;
on Charles, 240, 241.

Paulus Diaconus. See Paul the
Deacon.

Pavia, siege of, 146, 196.

"Peace, The," 421.

Pecock, on Donation of Cou-
stantine, 158.

Pelagius I., 346.

Pelagius II., on Franks, 97.

Persia, Mahometan, 64.

Peter Comeston, on Forged De-
cretals, 450.

Peter Damiani, 421.

Peter of Pisa, 323, 324.

Petersburg, monastery, 357.

Photius, relations to Nicholas I.,
454.

Pippin, Donation of, 136 sq.

Pippin, father of Charles, 57, 76,
102, 103 ; synod at Soissons,
106 ; conquers Bavarians, 111 ;
defence of Neustria, HI, 112 ;
receives Karlmann's kingdom,
112 ; relations to Grifo, 113 ;
puts down Saxon revolt, 113 ;
coronation, 117 sq. ; character-
istics, 122 ; peace of united
kingdoms, 122 ; relations to
Stephen III,, 132 sq, ; fresh re-
volt of Saxons, 133, 134; meet-
ing with Stephen, 134, 135 ;
promises aid, 135 ; consecra-
tion, 138 ; " Patrician of the
Romans," 138, 139 ; overtured
byKarlmann, 140 ; orders him
to Vienne, 141 ; attacks Ais-
tulf, 141 ; fresh appeals from

Index.

469

pope, 142 ; deaf car, 143 ; let-
ter from St. Peter, 145 ; crosses
Alps again, 140 ; foundation
of temporal power, 147 scj. ;
return, 151 ; letters from Paul
I., 153 ; war with Acpiitania,
161 ; at Verneuil, 162 ; rela-
tions to emperor, 164, 165 ; to
Almansor, 165 ; his work, 166.
167 ; death 161. 167 ; division
of kingdom, 167 ; attempt to
establish metropolitan cen-
tres, 277.

Pippin of Ilcristal, 3, 42, 59, 60.

Pippin of Lansteu, 3, 41, 42.

Pippin, son of Charles, King of
Italy, 236, 293 ; early career,
293 ; kingdom, 295 ; relations
to Leo, 296 ; death, 296.

Pippin, son of Louis the Pious,
378, 379, 385 ; rebellion, 404 ;
restores father to rights, 404,
405 ; new division of territory,
405 ; anger, 405 ; fresh rebel-
lions, 406, 407 ; to the rescue
of his father, 407 ; submission
of Lothair, 407 ; death, 409.

Pippin, son of above, 409 ; joins
with Lothair, 411.

Pirminius, 77.

Pius IX., on Boniface, 79.

Plato, study of, in time • of
Charles, 320.

Poitiers, battles of, 31. 87, 101.

" Pope," history of term, 23.

Porphyry, 336.

Prccariuin, 62.

Predestination controversy, 368
sq.

Primogeniture, 378, 384.

Probus, 358.

Provincia, 33.

Prudentius of Troj^es, on'Scotus,
367 ; predestinati<m controver-
sy, 370 ; dogmatist, 371.

Pseudo Isidore, 23, 287, 425, 426,
427 sq.

Eabanus, :Maurus, 266, 206, 353 ;

" Veni Creator," 271; life,

354 ; characteristics, 355, 856 ;

monastic work, 357 ; loyal to

Louis, 358 : retirement, 358 ;

regard for Louis the German,

358 ; ])ish(jp of Mainz, 359 ;

eu(;h:iristi(; controversy, 364 ;

relations to Gottschaik, 369,

370 ; intlucnce, 373.
Kacliis, King of Lombards, 119 ;

retirement, 129.
Radbertus. Paschasius, 266 ;

eucharistic controversy, 363

sq. ; on miraculous delivery

of Mary, 365.
Rashdall, on schools of Charles,

303.
Kathbod, King of Fricsians, 59,

69.
Ralisbon, bishopric, 75.
Katramnus, 266 ; eucharistic

controversy, 364 ; against

Radbert, 365 ; defends the

Church, 454.
Ravenna, attacked, 128 ; fall,

130, 131.
Ravenna, archbishop of, 277.
Reccared, conversion, 51, 269 ;

anointed, 120.
Red Held, 406.

Regensberg, assembly in. 267.
Regensberg, bishopric, 75.
" Regulation of the empire, " 385,

388.
Reichcnau, monastery, 77.
Relics, 81.

Remi of Auxerre, 373.
Remigius, bishop of Rheims, 121.
Remigius of Ly(ms, 370.
Reminghad, 373.
" Republic of Rome," 150.
Rheims, power, 276; school at.

353 ; synod of, 449.
Richbon'of Trevt-s, 268.
Uipuarians, 27, 2S, 32.
Rois Faineants, 41, 114 sq.
Roland, death, 235.
Roman Constitution, 394 sq.
Rome, Church of, struggle with

4/0

Index.

Constantinople, 4 ; increasing
power, 4, 5, 19 sq., 93 sq.,
136, 146 sq., 158 sq. ; states of
the Church and temporal pow-
er, 5*93 sq., 147sq. ; feudalre-
lations, 3G, 37, 419 sq. ; alliance
with Franks, 45 ; connection
with state, 46 sq., 93 sq. ; de-
moralization, 52 sq. ; relations
to Charles Martel, 60 sq., 67 ;
strengthened by Mahometan
conquest of Eastern patri-
archates, 64, 100 ; oath of
Boniface, 71, 72 ; from time of
Theodoric, 93 sq., 99 ; signifi-
cance of Pippin's coronation,
118, 119 ; first anointing among
Franks, 121 ; independence re-
sult of clashing rival powers,
124 ; iconoclastic controversy,
124 ; political interests, 125 ;
Donation of Pippin, 136 sq. ;
'* Patrician of the Romans,"
138, 139 ; foundation of tem-
poral power, 147 sq. ; Dona-
tion of Constautine, 155 sq. ;
facts regarding temporal pow-
er, 158 sq. ; results, 159, 160 ;
relations with Charles, 171,
172, 290; effect of Frankish-
Lombard marriage alliances,
190 sq. ; Donation of Charles,
196, 200, 201 ; bound up in
new empire, 218, 219 ; metro-
politan system, 276 sq. ; letter
of Hadrian on supremacy, 282 ;
Paul [. on same, 283 ; acknowl-
edged as centre and head, 286 ;
influence of Charles, 300, 302 ;
power of liierarchj^ 377 ; elec-
tion of popes, 382 ; Donation
of Louis, 383 ; growth of rival
imperial and papal parties, 392
sq. ; Roman Constitution, 394
sq. ; feudalism, 419 sq. ;
Forged Decretals, 287, 425,
426, 427 sq., 447 sq., 450;
height of papacy, 452 sq. ;
subsequent weakness, 436.

Sec Bishop ; Charles the
Great ; Charles Martel
Gregory I. ; Gregory II.
Gregory III. ; Hadrian I.
Louis the Pious ; Stephek
III. ; Zacharias.

Rome, city, attacked by Lom-
bards, 142, 144, 145.

Rome, duke of, 128, 133.

Rome, empire, legacy to new
peoples of the West, 8 sq. ; rea-
sons for disorganization, 10 sq.

Rome, patriarchate, 18.

Rome, " Republic of," 150.

Rothard, Duke, 133.

Rothard of Soissons, 449, 455.

Rothrud, betrothed to Constan-
tine, 212, 261.

Rudolph, brother of Judith, 404.

Rudolph, successor of Rabanus,
357.

Rugians, conversion, 44.

Sabellianism, 264.

Sacramentary of Gregory, 283.

St. Gall, monastery, 56, 77, 345.

Saints, veneration of, 81.

Saliaus, 27, 28.

Salzburg, bishopric, 75 ; eccle-
siastical jurisdiction, 375.

Sarabians, 293.

Saracens, 26, 51 ; occupy Sicilj'-,
218. See ]\Lvhometans.

Saragossa, Charles at, 234.

Sardican canons, 22, 287.

Saxons, attack Charles Martel,
65, 66 ; Boniface among, 71 ;
rebellions, 110, 113, 134, 161 ;
wars with Charles, 172 sq. :
subjection, 176 sq. ; capitula-
ries, 177 sq. ; surrender, 181 ;
fresh revolts and subjections,
182, 183 ; final overthrow, 184 ;
missions among, 184 sq.

Schaff, on Forged Decretals, 406.

Scotland, conversion, 55.

Scotus, John, eucharistic contro-
versy, 364 ; wonder of age,
365, 366 ; books, 367 ; philoso-

Indc

4/1

I'liy, ^07, o<)8 ; prcdcsliiiuliou
controversy, 3G« «q. ; closing
dtiys, 372, 373.

Scriptures, transliitcd umler
Louis, 3r)3.

Serenus, bishop of Marseille", on
images, 82.

Sergius I., 00.

Sergius, libnirian, 31)3.

Sergius, papivl legate. 111.

" Servant of the Servants of
God," 23, footnote.

Servatus Lupus, 357, 359, 301
sq., 370, 449.

Sicily, 12-1, 218.

Sigulfus, 373.

Slavs, invasions, 375.

Soissons, council at, 106, 107,448.

Spain, Church of, 203. 204.

Spain, expedition of Charles into,
233 sq.

Spoleto, duke of, relations to
papacy, 125, 126. 128, 152, 153,
197 ; attacked by Liutprand,
126.

States of the Church, 5.

Stephen IL, 131.

Stephen IIL, relations to Aistulf,
131 sq., 140 sq. ; to Pippin, 132
sq. ; crosses Alps, 133 ; meet-
ing with Pippin, 134, 135 ; aid
promised by Pippin, 135 ; con-
secrations, 138 ; confers title

, of Patrician of the Romans on
kings, 138. 139, 2(»2 ; threat-
ened by Aistulf, 141, 142;
fresh appeals to Pippin, 142
sq. ; letter from St. Peter, 145 ;
on Aistulf, 152 ; death, 152.

Stephen IV., wrath at i)roposed
marriage of Prankish and
Lombard families, 170 ; False
Decretals, 449.

Stephen V., 381 ; crowns Louis,
382 ; election of poi)e.s, 382 ;
death, 383.

Stephen of Tournay, on Forged
Decretals, 451.

Stilicho, 28.

Stral)o, W.dnfrid, 321. 357.

Stubbs, on Ebgert. 318.

Sturm, missionary, 186, 188.

Suevi, conversion. 44.

Sutri, granted to Gregory, 100,

Sutri, synoil of, 450.

Sweden, mission work in, 410,

417.
Syagrius. 29.

Tarik, 64.

Tassilo, son of Ottilo, 114, 109,
190, 194, 237, 290, 293.

Tertullian. 10.

Testry, battle of. 42.

Theoderic, son of Charles, 380,
387, 388.

Theodore, archbishop of Canter-
bury, 69. 70, 333.

Theocfore of iVIopsucstia, 347.

Theodore, prince of papal pal-
ace, 392.

Theodore, the philosopher, 312.
315 ; Saxon chronicle on, 316.

Theodoret, against Cvril, 347.

Theodoric, 27, 30, 31, 33, 91 ;
King of the Romans. 92 ;
death, 92.

Theodoric IV., 103, 114.

Theodulf, bishop of Orleans,
340, 349, 351, 353, 359, 381,
387, 388. 420.

Theophanes, on relations of
Charles to East. 216, 222, 208,
270.

Thietberga, wile of Lothair IL,
] 453.

Thietgaut, of Treves, 453.

Thionville, synod, 441.
' Thuringia, 33, 70.
■ Tithes, 283.

Toto, duke. 160.

Transubstantiatiou, 265, 363 sq.

Treves, ecclesiastical position,
276.

"Truce of God." 422.

Turrian, False Decretals, 451.

Ulfila.s, 30, 43.

472

Index.

Urban II., claim to Corsica, 157.
Urolf, archbishop of Lorch, 419.
Utrecht, under Hildibald, 274.

Valens, defeated by barbarians,
26 ; Arian, 44.

Valentine I., 397.

Valentinian, edict of, 123.

Valla, Lamentius, on Donation
of Constantine, 158.

Vandals, 26 ; conversion, 44.

Vasconia, 55.

Venetia, Grecian possession, 218.

" Veni Creator Spiritus," 271.

Verden, massacre, 180 ; under
Mainz, 274.

Verdun, treaty, 360, 413.

Verneuil, council, 162.

" Vicar of Peter," 24, footnote.

Villedaigne, battle, 294.

Virgin, worship of, 81.

Visigoths, 26, 29, 31 ; Arian, 44,
51 ; Fardolin among, 55 ; Ma-
hometan conquest of, 64 ; or-
thodox, 264.

Vitalian, pope, 70.

Waifar, son of Hunold, 112, 114,

161, 168.
Waitz, on coronation of Charles,

221.
Wala, abbot, 408.
Wala, count, 380, 388, 389, 393.
"Walafrid, on Charles, 324 ; pupil

of Rabanus, 357.

Waldrada, 453.

Wasserschleben, on Forged De-
cretals, 449.

Wearmouth, monastery, 313, 316.

Werden, Monastery, 188.

Whitby, council of, 56, 70, 311,
347.

Wilfrid, 316, 317.

Willehad, missionary, 186, 189.

William of Malmesbury, on Sco-
tus, 372.

Willibrod, missionary, 59, 60,
69, 71.

Winfrid. See Boniface.

Winnigis, 381.

Witmar, monk, 416.

Wittekind, 176, 180, 181 ; bap-
tized, 182.

Wulfhold, 387.

Wiirzburg, bishopric, 76.

Yarrow, monastery, 313, 316.
York, school of, 316 sq. ; arch-
bishopric, 317,

Zacharias, pope, 78 ; on second
German synod, 106 ; reply to
Pippin's question, 117 ; eleva-
tion and characteristics, 127 ;
treaty with Liutprand, 128 ;
receives Mirfa and Norma,
129 ; renouncement of Karl-
mann and Rachis, 129 ; rela-
tions to Aistulf, 130 ; death,
131.

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The age of Charlemagne

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